Eliza CullenBlack: The True Story
by In The Key Of Julie
Summary: Being the daughter of Nessie and Jake makes Eliza's life pretty crazy. Vampires and werewolves are only the beginning of it all. Being with them leads to unexpected love and danger that could threaten her family and her life.
1. Talented

**Chapter 1: Talented**

**So I really hope you like this! This being my first story I would like to thank the person who gave me this idea. Thanks Maddie! Without you there would be no story! So peoples, you should read her stories look her up as converse42 and read ****Carlisle's Angles**** and her latest ****June Black: The True Story**

I sat perched on the arm of a comfy sofa waiting impatiently to leave my house. My dad carried bags while waiting for Mom to get the car. "Come on peoples! What's taking so long?" We were getting ready for an anneversary party of sorts only my parents, if that's what you would like to call them, weren't really going to be staying for the party part.

They would be leaving me with my "grandparents" of course so they could escape the world and go to the family paradise known as Isle Esme named after my "great grandmother". Man our family is weird. I grew so tired of waiting that I just imagined the bag flying out of Dad's hands and landing in the trunk of a stylish Mercedes convertible. "Eliza! Please" I sighed. My talent was so much fun! I wish I could use it more. I remembered when I first noticed it.....

_**Flash Back**_

_"Hey Emmet! Do I have the bet for you!" I ran full speed into the living room determined to beat him at something. He was cuddling Rosalie closely on the couch. Rose quickly jumped off and pulled me into her lap. "You'll never beat me Liza and you know it!" I glared at him angrily. "We haven't done a staring contest yet. Loser has to do whatever the winner says." Emmet's eyes lit up. "You think you can beat me? You have the attention span of a three year old!" Rosalie stared at him. "She is three! Or, well, at that stage in development. I think that's a little harsh maybe you should hold off." Determined to do it I said "No Rosie I can do this!" _

_Rose left us to our bet."Ready set go!" we stared into each other's eyes sitting as still as a statue, literally. We sat there for twenty minutes when Alice bounded into the room and shook me saying "I found you the most adorable outfit! Come look." Of course the sudden movements made me blink and I had lost. "ALICE!!!!!!!" I screamed I started to cry (after all I was only three). Emmet victoriously stalked off into the kitchen where Rosalie was taking to Nessie, which I then called mommy, but that lasted till I was about five._

_ Alice took me in a cold hard hug. "Now I have to do whatever Emmet says!" I cried into her shirt. "I'm so sorry Lizie. I didn't know. Will you come see the outfit?" I shook my head quickly. I watched as Emmet leaned up against the fridge. I wished it would fall on him. I imagined that happening and then.... THUMP! Next thing I knew Emmet was lifting up the fridge. I couldn't contain myself and bursted out laughing. But then I realized what happened. My little eyes wide, I raced up to Carlisle's office. On the way I was spotted by Edward. "Liza what's wrong?" Then he read my thoughts and his eyes grew wide as well. Like the speed of light, he followed me in to see Carlisle._

_"Carlisle!!" I ran over to him and he hugged me sensing my distress. I told him what happened and he said, "Looks like you have a talent! It's called telekinesis. It means you can control things with your mind! You fit right in. Your mommy can tell people what she's thinking, Edward can read minds, and Bella has the talent of a mind shield!" Excitedly I thanked Carlisle and ran down stairs to tell everyone of the discovery._

We all piled in and drove away from my home at La Push. To my home away from home, the Cullen residence.


	2. Secrets

**Heyy! I hope you liked Chapter 1! Thanks to those who reviewed my story. So here is more! And again read stories by converse42!**

**-Eliza C-B.**

**Chapter 2: Secrets**

We pulled up in front of their house and I ran into the waiting arms of my way too young grandparents. Bella would not let go of me and it was kind of annoying. Then I turned to Jasper and Alice who was literally jumping up and down with excitement. Bella never wanted to go shopping but I loved it! So Alice lifted me off the ground and spun me around. "Yay shopping buddy!" Jasper just gave me a look and said "Hi Eliza." I stared at him for a minute. "What, no hug?" he shrugged and held his breath so he could wrap me in a quick embrace. I guess my smell was a bit hard for him to handle. I mean part of him wanted to suck my blood, but there was another part that almost covered it up. And from constant contact with a werewolf, he wanted to stay away from me. But he always stuck around anyway. After all, the Cullens spoil me with attention.

I then walked over to Emmett and Rosalie. Rosalie gave me a dainty hag and kissed me on each cheek. A sincere smile spread across her face. Oh wonderful, it's Emmett. I pulled back my fist and punched him. "Hey what was that for?" I smiled triumphantly "I just felt like punching someone." I replied casually. He growled and reached for me so he could lift me up and turn me upside-down, the usual form of punishment which I hated, but I slid out of the way just in time. Not in the mood to chase me he glared and warned "I'll get you for this!" We still embraced Emmett was like my big brother. We tormented each other, but in the end we love each other very much though we will never admit that.

Last, I went to Esme and Carlisle for a string of multiple hugs and kisses. Then no surprise, I was piggy-backed into the house by Edward. He'll probably be doing that when I'm eighteen! He put me down inside. Where immediately my bags showed up at the foot of the stairs ready to be brought up to my room. Alice started combing her hands through my bronze hair while Mom told everyone what was going on.

"If she's hungry feed her. She knows what she wants. She will hunt so you can take her hunting. Make sure she gets to bed by ten at the latest. Jake and I are going to Isle Esme for two week so you will have her for two weeks. This Friday she's going to visit Billy so get her there by eleven. June is going to make them lunch and will drive her back. I believe Seth and some others from the pack will be there just too let you know. And I think that's it! Any questions call me. And

"Liza-Bear, be very good don't be too mean to Emmet, don't let them spoil you too much, speak up if you need something, yada, yada, yada. Have fun baby!" Carlisle nodded "Sure Ness anything."

I received loving hugs and multiple kisses from both my parents. "Do what Carlisle and Edward say or you know what's gunna happen when we get home." I then pouted. "So I guess I can't call him Edweirdo." Dad rolled his eyes. "Bye Liza love you!" And at that they walked out the door with Bella following and they got in the car and drove away.

Edward insisted that I sit in the back though I was old enough to sit in the front. He also had to buckle me in like I couldn't do it myself. But arguing would do nothing just make me late to Grandpa Billy's. I was also excited to see June, my favorite aunt. We soon pulled up in front of Billy's house. June bolted out the door and I was embraced from all around. Jessie came through the door and we slapped hands. "I'm SO glad you're here!" June waved over at the car. "Thanks Eddie!" I wondered if she caught his sigh of annoyance. I skipped inside and gave Billy a hug and a kiss. As I looked in I realized he invited the whole pack.

I sighed, everything was always with the pack. I saw Sam and Emily, Quil, Embry, and Seth. He turned around and I looked at him. Since when was he so beautiful? I never really looked at him before but he was gorgeous! I knew this wasn't just love, but what was it?

The lunch had gone well and I was in the car riding home. I told June what had happened. "Hmm interesting. I don't know Liza maybe you should ask Carlisle" I knew she knew something. But why wouldn't he tell me? Why was this a secret?


	3. Research

**Ok you can't stop me from updating even if school makes it hard for me to find time! So if you like this story read ****June Black: The True Story**** because not only is the author my best friend but June is in my story too! I show up in I think her fourth book? I don't exactly know but thanks again for the reviews! You need to see the New Moon trailer on YouTube because it's amazing! Owwww my fingers hurt! I'm gunna stop now! Enjoy the story or else!!!**

**-Eliza iz ur best friend**

**P.S. I'm a little crazy today so sry bout that stuff up there^^^^^^(arrows pointing up) **

**Chapter 3: Research**

I stumbled down the stairs and found my way to the kitchen. A sat down at one of the stools and put my head down on the counter. Esme greeted me with a cheery good morning while Alice cringed at my bed head, ratty tank top, and pajama pants dotted with hippos. "It's bed head Alice. Just deal with it ok?" I snapped. She rolled her eyes at me. I had only gotten a few hours of sleep because I was too distracted with thoughts. I groggily asked for a cup of tea and some saltines and made my way over to the couch to lie down. "Turn that frown upside down!" Emmett started shaking me and I thought I would barf.

Quickly, I ran to the bathroom and made it to the toilet just in time. Ugh. When I turned Emmett gave me his "I'm sorry I feel really guilty" looks. I punched him. I knew he was trying to cheer me up but it didn't help. At least my stomach felt better. I ran into the kitchen as soon as I smelled my tea and chugged that while scarfing down the saltines. "Eliza! Slow down! You just threw up for gosh sakes."

"Esme I feel fine."

"I'll have Carlisle check you out ok?" She kissed my forehead. Good I needed to talk to him anyway.

I'll head up right now. By the way punish Emmett for shaking up my stomach. He was the reason I threw up." I sprinted up the stairs to Carlisle's study and stood panting at the doorway. I knocked a few times before I heard him say to come in. "Hello Liza, what brings you here?" I asked him to check me out, and he did the usual doctor stuff. He concluded the whole thing was from lack of sleep.

"Ok measuring time!"

"Aww no! Carlisle please?"

"I have to keep track. I know you hate it."

"Well that's an understatement." But of course I stepped up onto the scale and he measured my height and weight. "Alright you have grown about two inches since the last time you were here and you gained a few pounds." Carlisle wrote this down in a file labeled "Growth and Development of Eliza Jane Cullen-Black" and put it in his desk. I plopped myself in a chair and waited as he typed information into my file on his computer so he could look at my growth chart. When he was done, I made my move.

"Carlisle?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure! Go Ahead."

"While I was at Grandpa Billy's yesterday, I saw Seth. And well he saw me and, he was gorgeous and his eyes sparkled like he was a blind man who had just seen the sun for the first time. Is this normal? I really don't think so, so I asked June about it and she told me to talk to you, but I knew she knew what was up. And I just wanna know what the heck is going on!"

"Oh! Um, uh, could you ask me later? I really can't explain right now."

"Whatever." I stormed out of the room.

I had a small lunch and prepared for my mission. Desperate call for desperate measures. I ran into my room and pulled out my phone. Beep, beep, beep. I heard ringing and then someone picked up. "Mom!" Surprised by my call, it took her a while to respond.

"Hi babe! Is something wrong?"

"Well I want to talk to you about something." I told her of the recent events and she told me to hold while she got my dad. Already, she was getting him up to speed on what I had said.

"Liza?"

"Hi dad!"

"Ok look, I need you to listen to me. I'll tell you a story. When your mom was born I first hated her because she totally beat up Bella. But when I first saw her, when I looked into her eyes, we fell in love right then and there. But it's not just normal love, I found my other half and it's very hard to be without her. It's a wolf thing, but only one of the two needs to be a wolf. The actual term for it is imprinting. When you look at June and Jesse, they also imprinted on each other. So what it means is that you've found your other half, Seth. The reason why no one told you is because they didn't know if I wanted you to know, but I do so I'm telling you now." Whoa. So it really is something more than just love. I took me a minute to respond to all of that information.

"Thank you for telling me dad. Now I guess I'll go find Seth and confront him."

"Ok. We miss you very much. See you in a week and a half!"

"Love you both! Bye." I slid down the banister and Edward turned around to look at me. He and Bella were snuggled on the couch ignoring the TV. I sat down next to Bella and changed the channel to watch SpongeBob. Edward leaned over to whisper something in my ear. His breath tickled me and I thought I heard congratulations.


	4. I Think I Love You

**Heyy guys!!! Sorry it's been taking me so long to update!!!! I've been SO busy lately it's not even funny. So enjoy this chapter. I know the title's kinda corny but oh well.**

**-E.C.B**

**Chapter 4: I Think I Love You**

I was pissed off. Why didn't they want me to know about this stupid imprint thing? I'm mature enough to get it! I was seriously ready to scream when I felt a tugging on my hair and screamed so loud I swear Grandpa Billy heard it miles away.

"Just me Liza, chill out would you?" Alice was brushing my hair spraying the bronze tangles with water to loosen them up.

"Next time try not to give me a heart attack next time you want to fix my bed head!" I pulled out my phone.

"What are you doing?"

"Calling a friend to make plans."

I ran down the stairs all ready to go. "Eliza wait!!" Alice was suddenly at my side. She was holding a can of hairspray.

"If you mess up that skirt you are in big trouble! Now let me make sure your curls are in place."

"No hairspray please! Do you want me to choke?" I didn't think so. I looked at myself in the mirror. My bronze hair was in bouncy, perfect curls. I checked out my new skirt. High waisted, plaid, not to bad for a skirt.

"Eliza! You look beautiful! Come here and let me take your picture!" Esme pulled out her camera and took a few shoots of me just before I saw him again. I walked through the garage door to the shiny Volvo with Edward sitting in it.

"Let's go. You'll be carful right?"

"Really? Just really? Do you think that I wouldn't be carful? I barely know him yet!"

"Just making sure."

We were walking on La Push beach. We were both too nervous to hold hands, but it would've looked weir anyway. I really thought this was right.

"So Eliza, Give me your favorites: movie, color, food, book, all of them."

"Oh god. Ummm, well my favorite movie is probably The Pursuit of Happiness. It is so sad and moving but I love funny movies too. I don't have a favorite color but if I had to pick I would pick pink, blue, or green. I prefer lots of colors together. I LOVE French fries and ketchup so much that it's not funny. Favorite book? I can't pick. I've read so many good ones that I can't decide. What are your favorites?"

"Wow I really can't say favorite book either. Or favorite movie for that matter! My favorite color is probably gray. My favorite food is Emily's muffins. They are so good! You know, your hair is beautiful today."

"Oh thanks. Alice insisted on curling it. She just won't leave my hair alone." I could tell I was blushing. Today was so weird. I looked at Seth's face and realized how beautiful it was. Some day when I was old enough, I would kiss those lips. I shuddered at the thought. I really did love him. We definitely were soul mates.

"Hey Seth?"

"Yes?"

"I think I love you."


	5. Movie Night

**Guess who's on a roll?!? Me!!! But I can't guarantee that you will see another chapter very soon. Enjoy it while you can!!! All the talk about mac n' cheese makes me want some really bad…**

**-E.C.B**

**Chapter 5: Movie Night**

"Thanks June." I was just about to get out of the car. Today was amazing! All I needed was some mac n' cheese and I would be set, well, almost set.

"Hey, I'm sorry I couldn't get you earlier. I really would have liked to drive my favorite niece to meet her guy." A huge grin was on her face.

"No problem." I hoped out of the car and walked up to the porch. Take a deep breath. I was ready to get bombarded with questions. I knew I would hate it but if I tried to use my talent, I would be grounded for life.

I stepped inside ready for anything. Or so I thought. Alice appeared in front of me within milliseconds. I screamed and she winced.

"Give me all the details!! I can't believe you guys imprinted!!! Oh my gosh Eliza!" She picked me up and twirled me around in circles.

"Hey would you mind putting me down? Please? I just want some mac n' cheese!" She rolled her eyes. I knew she probably saw it before it happened, but she wanted to hear it from me. I went into the kitchen and took out a box of easy mac and poured it into a pot of boiling water. When the noodles were done, I mixed in the cheese and put some in a ceramic bowl and grabbed a spoon from the cabinet. Alice looked impatient.

"Ready?? Tell me all of it." Before I knew it I had a whole audience of Alice, Rose, Bella, Esme, even Emmett and Jasper came to listen!

"Okay so we walked on the beach and talked about ourselves and then we said we loved each other and walked some more and then June came by to pick me up. That was it."

"Awww Liza!! Come here!" Bella pulled me into her arms.

"Eliza can really get the guys!" I shot Emmett a look. I could tell he was joking but I could've sent the fridge to crush him again.

"Young love is so sweet," Rose gushed. I stared at her. This was not normal Rose. Then I thought of something. Seth needed to know and accept my family, so we needed to do something together.

"Hey guys, I have an idea," I said. "We should have a movie night this Friday night and get a ton of popcorn and stuff and watch a funny family movie! What do you think?"

"Sounds like fun." Edward had just come out of nowhere.

"Where did you come from?" I stared at him. He in turn, stared back. Then a smile broke through and he came to hug me.

"You guys will be such a cute couple." I smeared orange cheese sauce on his face. We all laughed, but Edward frowned. He pointed in the direction of my room. "I know the way."

I stared at my phone impatiently. What was taking them so long? I picked it up and started texting _Just pick a movie it's not that hard! What about something like Up? That's a good 1!_ I waited some more. Finally my phone did its little ringing thing and I picked it up.

"Edward why didn't you text me back?"

"You want me to get Up?"

"I really don't care. But why didn't you text me?"

"I typically don't text."

"You are so old fashioned! Really! You have about tem minutes. Did you get the popcorn? The kind with butter?"

"Yes miss bossy. I'll be there. Love you." He hung up. I decided to see what was on TV to pass the time. All that was on was the show with the little girls in beauty pageants. Just the thing Alice would like. Then something occurred to me. If she saw this show, she would want to put me in a pageant so she could do me up with all the hair and makeup and pretty dresses. I'd never get her off my back if I didn't do it. I picked up the remote to change the channel, but guess who walked in?

"Watcha watching?" she stared at the screen and listened for a few minutes and she had a smile of pure evil painted across her face. Luckily the doorbell rang just that second. Edward and Bella came in through the kitchen, as I got the door.

"Seth!" He gave me a hug. "Guess what? We're gunna watch Up!" Seth said hi to everyone and immediately started taking handfuls of popcorn out of the bow on the coffee table. I grabbed my water bottle, and was ready for a great movie night.


	6. Parents

**Hope you like the chapter!!!!! I think this might be the last chapter you see in a while. But oh well!!! Have fun!!!**

**-E.C.B.**

**Chapter 6: Parents**

"Eliza, you know your parents are coming back tomorrow." She was sitting on my bed as I woke up. I groaned a dug my face into my pillow.

"No whining! You know, Edward had to carry you up here cause you fell asleep during the movie. Well more like passed out."

"Really?"

"Yeah. We need to go shopping today or else we won't fit that in." I sat up in bed suddenly cold without my blanket. I pulled my favorite sweatshirt over my head.

"My friend from school is having a Bat Mitzvah soon. Maybe we could get me a dress for that."

"That's a great idea! Get dressed cause we're leaving right after you're done breakfast." She stepped out of the room and I pulled out some clothes from the dresser. The time flew so fast. I really didn't want to leave, but I knew I had to. When I was ready, I slid my phone into my brand new handbag (courtesy of Alice), and slid down the banister.

"Careful." Edward had me in his arms at the bottom of the stairs.

"What would your mother say if you did that at home?"

"It's fun!" He sighed and we walked into the kitchen where a pancake was waiting for me to devour. Alice was waiting at the table looking impatient. I was so hungry, that I scarfed down the pancake in about one minute.

"Slow down! I know you want to go shopping, but you should really take the time to not swallow your food whole!" I got up from my seat and Alice pulled out her keys and we were on our way to a total shopping spree.

When I woke up the next morning my suitcase was all packed. My dress was hanging on the doorknob. It was so beautiful. The top was purple with a ruffle at the neck and the skirt part was high waisted and black. I just hoped that it wouldn't out shine my friend's dress.

I knew my parents were coming around noon and having lunch with us. It was nearly 10:30. Wow, had I really slept that much? I guess I had.

"I can't believe you're leaving already." Esme gave me a hug.

"I know! I seemed like I was only here for like two days!"

"Common you should eat your parents will be here in an hour and a half."

"Ok."

I sat on the couch waiting. Emmett came and sat down beside me with this huge grin on his face. I looked at him like he was crazy and he just laughed and gave me a hug.

"You know we never got to have our bet this time."

"Shoot! Really? Awww man my parents are gunna get here any minute! That really sucks!"

"Well we could have a cook-off. We can see who can make the best pasta dish." He did the thing where you raise your eyebrows. I would miss him. He was so much fun to be with.

"You are so on." We raced into the kitchen and started cooking up a storm. Esme looked over and shook her head. I just knew what she was thinking but I didn't care. I used my talent to drop the noodles in the pot and stir them. I was so glad that Edward wasn't in the room. I could smell Emmett's marinara sauce. I was making a primavera sauce for mine with broccoli, carrots, and peppers. I knew my parents would love it.

Just then I heard voices coming from the living room. They were back! I had to concentrate on my pasta though. I couldn't loose this cook-off. I had to win. I took the spoon and got out a noodle. It was screaming hot but it was perfectly done.

"Will you be my pasta tester?" I took the noodle he offered me and ate it. I held my thumb up to say that it was done. We both strained our pasta and mixed in our sauces.

"Done!" And at that second, my parents came in the room.

"Pasta cook-off?" My mom smiled as she said this and gave me a big hug. "I missed you."

"I know. I missed you too."

"Hey Liza," My dad hugged me. "Were you good?"

"Yes, I was an angle."

"Of course you were. Now let's try this pasta!"

We all stuffed our faces with the pasta. Both dishes were delicious, but there could only be one winner. My parents whispered to each other for a minute and they finally reached a verdict.

"Both dishes were amazing, but we have to go with Eliza's primavera."

"Ha! In your Face Emmett." And then I knew the best thing to do would be to run.


	7. Only My Best Friend in the Universe

**I haven't update in a while! So here's a new addition to my story! I came up with this idea while riding in the car thinking about going to the beach even though I was actually going to the dentist. And there is a long chapter name for a change! Woo hoo! Happy reading!**

**-E.C.B **

**P.S. I decide to go with a different font for my signature thingy. Getting fancy, eh?**

**P.P.S. Kitchen does not start with a "C".**

**Chapter 7: Only My Best Friend in the Universe**

"So…"

"What?"

"Stuff."

"Wow, Eliza. Just wow."

"I'm bored, ok?" I was sitting on a bar stool at the island in the kitchen at home. I eyed the fridge, but I already knew that it was pretty much empty. That's why my mom went to the store. All we had were graham crackers, tuna fish, and cream cheese. Ew.

"Look, missy," graham cracker crumbs were falling out of my dad's mouth. Smooth. "You are going to need to learn how to deal with boredom sometimes."

"Wow. You soul like my dad."

"I do, don't I. Oh well. When Nessie gets home you can bug her about it. Kay?"

"You bug me."

"I love you too."

I ran up the stairs into my room and flopped on the bed. What do you do when there's nothing to do? I looked at my laptop on my desk. My screen saver was up. Boring. I moved the mouse around a little and checked my facebook notifications. There was one that said "Anna Perry has written something on your wall". My face lit up as I checked what she wrote. It said, "Liza Jane! I miss you sooo much! I wanna hang out so call me! Love ya! Love, Anna"

Just in case you don't know, Anna Perry is only my best friend in the universe. I love her! We've known eachother since we were three. Believe it or not, she is Jake's sister's husband's sister's daughter. In other words she is the niece of my aunt, but on the other side of her family. We met at a party at my aunt's house and were best friends from that day on. Luckily, she lives in Port Angeles so we're only about an hour away from eachother. But sometimes we don't see eachother.

It's really easy to hang out with her because she knows all about vampires and werewolves. Even her parents know, but don't ask me how. I don't know why it doesn't bother them except that I'm still intact so that's gotta be a good sign.

I checked to see if she was still online, but she wasn't. I decided to call her. She didn't pick up her cell so I called her house. I waited impatiently through six rings until someone picked up.

"Hi Mrs. Perry! It's Eliza!"

"Eliza! Hi sweetie! How are things? How was your parent's vacation?"

"Good, and good! Can I−"

"She's right here." I was so excited! It had been nearly a month since I had last seen Anna!

"ELIZA!"

"ANNA!"

"Omigod I miss you so much!"

"Me too! I have some exciting things to tell you!"

"I'm all ears!"

"Not over the phone! I want you to come over."

"When?"

"Well now, but my mom's not home."

"Ask her when she gets home!"

"I will." There was a brief moment of awkward silence. That usually doesn't happen with us two!

"Is she home yet?"

"That was like two seconds! You're turning into me!"

"Well your impatience rubbed off on me during the previews the last time we saw a movie."

"Whatever. I'll call you when she gets home k? K."

"Bye Liza!"

"Bye Anna!" She was right about me being impatient. I am the most impatient 13-year-old in Washington. And it's even better when there's nothing to do while I'm waiting! Before I could finish the thought, I heard the back door open and my mom's voice drifted up the stairs. I speeded down the stairs into the kitchen.

"MOM! Hey mommy you know you're the best mom in the world and I love you so much!"

"I love you too, Liza. Now what do you want?"

"Do you think Anna could come over, and maybe stay the night?"

"Well you haven't seen her in a while. What do you think, Jake?"

"I think it's a great idea."

"YAY! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I'm going to call her right now!"

"I'll be making lunch. We're having grilled cheese. Oh yeah and I got lots of stuff for tacos for dinner." I was so excited, that I didn't even hear what she said. I grabbed the phone and dialed Anna's number.

"Pack your bags Anna! You're staying the night!" All I heard from the other end of the line was my best friend shouting woo hoo! We talked for a little while longer, but the smell of grilled cheese was too tempting. Thank god it was lunchtime!


	8. Anna

**Hey peoples! I'm adding more Seth in this chapter because someone requested that I do so. Ok maybe in the next chapter more but he's coming. Don't worry, you will not be disappointed!**

**-E.C.B **

**P.S. This chapter is pretty long so just bear with me and you'll get through it in one piece.**

**Chapter 8: Anna**

I paced back and forth in my room while I waited for Anna to come. I had to tell her about Seth. But how? _She knows Seth, _I thought, _but I don't know how she'll react._ Telling her honestly scared me so I though maybe I'd tell her that night and we'd spend the day doing fun stuff like a werewolf didn't imprint on me.

I absent-mindedly stared at a pen on y desk. I willed it to do tricks in my mind. Just then, my dad walked in and the pencil clattered to the hardwood floor. I thought he was going to yell at me, because sometimes I can't keep my gift in control, but he just sighed and walked over to my bed to pull out the trundle.

"You're making the bed this time, Eliza."

"Ughhhhh. I hate making beds."

"And no using your gift. Got it?"

"Fine whatever." My dad left and I went over to the linen closet to find Anna's sheets. Every time she slept over, she slept in the same sheets. They were a little childish, but you can't break tradition! I spotted them easily with the bright pink background and Cinderella, Ariel, and Belle printed all over. I went into my room and set up the trundle bed. I even put a pack of M&Ms on her pillow, another tradition.

I waited a few more minutes, and then I heard a car pull into our driveway. I flew down the steps and out the front door and gave Anna a huge hug. I said hi to her mom and the helped her carry her bags inside. We immediately ran up to my room so we could catch up and then decide what to do.

"Eliza did you get a new desk?"

"I did. What do you think?"

"Love it!"

"So how's everything? How's your brother doing in college?"

"Good! We went to visit him a few weeks ago."

"That's cool."

"It was nice. How are things with you?"

"Same as usual. Except for my parents anniversary the went away for two weeks and I stayed with Edward and all them."

"Oh my gosh! I haven't seen them in forever! How are they?"

"As good as ever! We could go visit them if you want. It's only 1 o'clock."

"Let's go!" We raced down the stairs and said goodbye to Anna's mom. She said she would be back in two days. That meant we could also go see June! Then my dad took Anna's stuff to my room and we went into the kitchen to ask my mom if we could go to the Cullen's house.

"Hey girls, do you want a snack? I have pizza pockets in the oven. They should be done in a few minutes."

"Great I'm starving!" Anna grabbed some grapes from the bowl of fruit on the counter and started munching on them.

"Hey mom? Can we go to the Cullen's house for a while when we're done?"

"You better call them and ask them yourself."

"Can you do it?"

"Fine. Oh! The pizza pockets are ready! Don't burn yourself, they're hot." My mom pulled the tray out of the oven and set it on the counter. The she went to the phone and dialed their number. I could tell she was talking to Edward. I picked up a pizza pocket and took a tiny bite. Ouch! It was screaming hot! Hence my scream. My mom gave me a look and told Edward why I had just screamed.

"She was right about them being hot." Me and Anna cracked up after that. When my mom got off the phone she told us to get in the car so we could go. I knew Edward wouldn't say no.

We spent our time hanging out and trying to play hide n seek with Edward. Take my advice, don't do it. Then we went home and stuffed our faces with tacos until we were full and had to go lie down in my room. And right there and then is when I had to tell her.

"Anna"

"Yeah?"

"You know how my parents fell in love right?"

"Yeah that imprint thing with werewolves, right?"

"Yep." There was a pause. I fished inside my desk drawer for some gum to help me calm my nerves and offered Anna a piece. She took it gratefully.

"When I was staying with Edward, I went to this lunch at Billy's house and the whole pack was there and it happened."

"You imprinted?"

"Yep."

"WITH WHO?" She was screaming excitedly. I was relieved that she was excited about it.

"Seth Clearwater." Her mouth hung open in astonishment.


	9. Mine

**Just a heads up I'm changing my pen name to **_**Eliza Black**_**. This is very important information. I am also changing the name of ****Eliza Cullen-Black: The True Story**** to ****The True Story of Eliza Black****. You may be curious why and that's because I just think Eliza Black is easier and more convenient for everyone. Any objections, feel free to comment. Enjoy this chapter and this time there will be more Seth!**

**-Eliza Black **

**Chapter 9: Mine**

"Oh. My. Gosh. Eliza Jane Black! And Seth Clearwater! Eliza plus Seth! Oh my gosh!"

"You can stop freaking out now." Anna was doing cartwheels across the floor.

"No I can't! Will I get to see you two together?"

"Sure, Anna. Maybe he'll come over tomorrow morning before Alice takes us shopping."

"Oh I can't wait! Call him now!" I sighed. Talking to Seth in front of her would be awkward. She doesn't get the extent of the love between us. It's not something normal people experience. But I grabbed my cell and dialed his number.

"Eliza! I was just thinking about you."

"You always think about me!"

"I know, I'm just glad to hear your voice."

"I'm glad to hear yours!"

"I miss you."

"I was calling about that. My best friend is here from Port Angeles. Her name is Anna I think you know her. She's Rebecca's niece."

"Oh yeah I think I met her when she was little."

"I've known her forever."

"Then I can't wait to meet her!"

"Yay! Can you come over tomorrow morning?"

"Of course! I can't wait to see you!"

"Me too! I miss you."

"I will see you then. I love you infinitely."

"You know how I would usually respond to that, but Anna's listening and she doesn't quite get it."

"Oh, a sleepover? Have fun! I'll be thinking of you!"

"Me too."

"Bye!" I hung up. Anna looked at me curiously.

"What don't I get Eliza?" I threw my pillow at her.

"Just get ready for bed."

Someone was gently shaking me, but I didn't want to wake up. They kept shaking me, but I wouldn't open my eyes.

"Come on Eliza. Don't make me do what I know you don't want me to do," he said. But I was tired and when I'm tired, I have an attitude. I would have shouted no, but I was too tired. He gave me no choice. He started tickling me and I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"She's awake!" He shouted down the stairs. It was Seth. My heart filled with joy. He gave me a bear hug and was very careful not to crush my lungs.

"Hi."

"Hey. You are cute when your pretending to sleep so you don't have to get up."

"Thanks? Please don't do that again."

"I'm sorry. I hate that you don't like it, but I had no choice."

"Did you meet Anna?"

"Yeah. She seems nice. She kept asking me questions and stuff."

"She's obsessed with be being in love."

"I can tell. You better get down stairs before the cinnamon buns get cold. And Alice is coming in a few hours."

"Thanks. Now leave so I can get dressed." He gave me anther hug and then walked out of the room. I walked in to my over sized closet that Alice insisted I have. I pulled on denim shorts that I got from Abercrombie the last time I went shopping with Alice, and a hot pink tank top. I strapped gladiators on my feet, put my phone in my pocket, and burst out my bedroom door.

"I'm so tired!"

He sighed, "You want a piggyback ride don't you."

"Yes." I grinned hugely. He hoisted me onto his back. I loved how he would do anything for me. I was so glad he was mine. We got down stairs and Anna rushed in.

"Aw you look so cute together!"

"Thanks, Ann." My parents wished me good morning and handed me a glass of orange juice and a cinnamon bun. I stuffed it in my face. It was then that I realized that this was where I belonged. A loving family, a best friend for life, and a soul mate. Could life get any better?


	10. Sick

**Yay! I made it to ten chapters! This deserves a fancy cake! Too bad I'm not getting one! Bad things are coming so watch out! You didn't think Eliza's life would stay perfect forever did you? Happy reading! Oh yeah I changed my pen name to Eliza Jane Black cause some idiot took Eliza Black.**

**-E.J.B.**

**Chapter 10: Sick**

Life was back to was gone and I had my room to myself again. I lay in my bed. It was late almost 10:45 and I had just woken up. How could I sleep that late? I sat up and my stomach hurt really badly. I felt like I was gunna throw up. I screamed for my mom to come upstairs.

"Good morning. Is everything alright?"

"I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Well let's get you to the bathroom." We went to the bathroom and I wretched on the floor for a while until it finally came out. It burned my throat and made my breath a putrid scent. But my stomach felt better, so a brushed my teeth to get the taste out.

"How do you feel now?"

"My stomach is better, but my head hurts and I feel gross and tired." I changed into a giant t-shirt and pajama pants. She felt my forehead. And shook her head before leading me downstairs to lie on the couch. She gave me a cup of tea and some saltines.

"I'm going to call Carlisle and tell him to check you out. It's a shame. We were going to go over there later today. That will have to wait. And I'm telling Jake to come home from work early." I groaned in response and reached for the remote. The only thing that was on was Nick Jr. At least it wouldn't make me feel worse when I watched it.

"Hey Eliza. How are you feeling?" I rubbed my eyes and groaned. Carlisle stuck a thermometer in my mouth. I immediately read 102.1. Great. He checked other stuff but I didn't pay much attention. Then he made me drink some nasty bubblegum flavored medicine.

"Make sure to drink a lot. You should also try to take a nap. I hope you feel better." He kissed my burning forehead gently and walked out the door just as Jake walked in. Then, I slept.

Someone hot was holding my hand. I was only half awake, but I could hear what was going on around me.

"Feel better, Eliza." He said. Seth. My eyes fluttered open and I smiled at him. He smiled back and squeezed my hand.

"How are you feeling?"

"Okay I guess."

"Well I have something that will make you feel better." He went into the kitchen and came back with a bag in his hand. It said _Tiffany & Co. _I gasped. Why did he buy me expensive jewelry? I just had the stomach flu and I wasn't going to die. He handed me the bag and I reached in and pull out a little box.

"What is it?"

"Open it!" Inside was a silver necklace with a key on the end. The top was heart shaped. I was overwhelmed over how beautiful it was.

"It's the key to my heart." He said quietly. That was so thoughtful!

"I love it so much! It's perfect! Thank you!" We embraced and he helped me put it on.

"I'll wear it all the time! What made you go to Tiffany's?"

"Leah said girls like their stuff. I actually picked this out myself." I hugged him again. Jake walked in.

"Great pick, Seth. Eliza do you want anything?"

"A baked potato."

"Ok I'll go make it. Here are some get well soon cards that Carlisle brought." He handed them to me. I opened the first envelope. The front said, "Get well wishes" and on the inside it said, "We hope you feel better! We send all our love, Edward and Bella"

"That was sweet."

"Hmmm." Seth reached for the card as I started reading the next one. It said, "You're too nice to be sick! Love, Alice and Jasper" It was cute I handed it to Seth and opened the next envelope. Most of them were boring until I got to Emmet's. It said "Nothing fancy, nothing witty, sorry you've been feeling… a little under the weather." I was laughing even harder when I got to the next part, "P.S. I'm glad you have finally seen Seth's face!" I was dying!

"Let me see that!" Seth was laughing until he got to the last part. "I'll get him for that." That's just when Jake brought in my baked potato and Nessie followed him. I dug in savoring how buttery it was.

"We are going to reschedule going over to Carlisle's for Saturday, Ok?" I nodded in response, my mouth still full of potato.

"I really should be going. I will see you on Friday at Sam and Emily's for lunch." Oh yeah. We were going to Emily's on Friday. Seth hugged me and I thanked him again for the necklace. He walked out the door.

"Are you already thinking about what to wear? Because it's going to be chilly."

"Can I wear that purple sweater? You know the one with the short sleeves and the cool buttons that are like off center? I could wear it with black skinny jeans and my gray Minnetonkas."

"I am not listening to this." I laughed as Jake walked out of the room. He only cares what Nessie wears. I guess you can't like clothes and cars. I could be wrong though. But Nessie seemed to like the idea of the outfit so that was good.

It was almost 8 o'clock at night. Had I really slept that long? I went up to my room and spent a while on facebook. I was feeling daring so I changed my relationship status to "In a Relationship". I wondered what people would say as I drifted off into a deep sleep.

_Eliza's Dream_

_ I was in the middle of a desert wearing a heavy winter coat and fuzzy sweat pants. The heat was unbearable! I started pulling off my jacket and pants, but underneath were more layers. There were endless layers and I continued to feel hot. Then Seth came riding on a camel. He picked me up and held me close. I expected to feel hotter, but instead the extra layers fell away and I was wearing a tank top and shorts. I felt cool again and I felt rejuvenated._


	11. Orange Converse

**If you want to see outfits that Eliza wears, there are links at the bottom of my profile. I did change my pen name, but I decided to leave the story title the same. So enjoy this chapter!**

**-Eliza **

**Chapter 11: Orange Converse**

Excitement coursed through my veins. I couldn't wait to go to Sam and Emily's. Emily is the best cook ever. Period. Better than any Food Network star or professional chef. I also wanted to see Seth more than anything. It was too early. I was stuck in my room doing nothing because my excited body decided it wanted to wake up at seven instead of waiting till at least 8:30.

I quietly crept out of my room to see if Jake and Nessie were awake yet. The door was open and I peered in and saw them cuddled close together. Aww! But they were still asleep. I tiptoed down the steps and started munching on Frosted Flakes while I flipped through channels on TV. Nothing. I fiddled with my necklace.

Jake thumped down the stairs and yawned hugely. He looked at me and seemed confused. He took the Frosted Fakes from me and poured them in a giant bowl.

"You're up early."

"I'm excited." He sat down on the couch next to me and shoved a spoonful of cereal in his mouth.

"To see Seth." He poked my stomach and I pushed his hand away.

"Yeah, so?"

"I'm excited for you. It's kinda mind blowing that Seth imprinted on _my_ daughter. Now I know how Bella felt when I first imprinted on Nessie."

"Whoa…that was…**deep**." I stared at him in disbelief. He was never this deep. I waved my hand in from of his face. "Are you ok? You never say stuff like that!"

"I'm fine!" Nessie appeared at the bottom of the steps and I tossed her the cereal box. She was dressed and ready to go though we didn't have to leave for two hours.

"You're up early," she said cereal spilling out of her mouth. Can't I wake up early sometimes? It's like they expect me to sleep in. I went up to my room to go on Polyvore. Alice would be so proud!

We piled into our silver Volkswagen Jetta, a more practical family car compared to Jake's blue Ferrari. I tried to focus on the song playing on my iPod. _Dynamite_ by Taio Cruz. It's my favorite sing but I couldn't concentrate on anything but seeing Seth. Thank god Sam lived close!

The car was barely stopped and I burst out. And ran to the door. June open it and swallowed me in her arms.

"I see you're feeling better. I brought you a little something but you'll have to wait to see what it is." I gave her my best puppy dog look pleading her to show me now but she just laughed and shook her head pulling me into another embrace. Jesse came out and ruffled my hair. I let it slide. June went over and hugged Jake and Nessie and we all went inside. The whole pack was there and then some.

"Eliza!" Seth ran over and gave me a bear hug, lifting be off the floor so he wouldn't have to bend down. Everyone was waiting for something to come out of the oven. I could smell it. I wandered into the kitchen saying hi to Quil and Embry on my way. Leah was at the table talking to Emily. Seth was holding my hand.

"Leah, I really love the necklace." She looked at me and smiled like she accomplished something big by telling Seth to get it for me.

"Eliza are you feeling better?"

"I'm feeling hungry!" We all laughed and Emily opened the oven to reveal two chickens. They smelled amazing! She called Sam in to help her carve them and put them on plates. Suddenly everyone was trying to get a plate of Emily's chicken. She handed me a plate and I dragged Seth over to the couch to eat. June sat down on the other side of me.

"I'm going to devour you now. I'm sorry." I took a bite and almost cried at how good it was.

"Poor chicken!" June said with a grieving look on her face. We all cracked up. Seth absentmindedly put his arm around me. I hoped Jake wouldn't have a spaz attack. Jesse sat down next to June. Her face lit up.

"Ok I got it. Jess where'd you put that bag for Eliza?"

"I have it here, love. I figured you'd want it soon." He held up a blue bag, which he handed to me. I thanked him and tore in.

"What's with the tissue paper? Alice!" Me and June cracked up at the inside joke. The guys looked at us like we were crazy. I guess it runs in the family. I ripped out a box that said Converse on it. My eyes got wide and I pulled out a pair of orange low tops.

"I officially love you June!" I gave her a huge hug.

"I'm glad to hear that." I ripped off my boots and replaced them with the converse. They were perfect. June smiled. "Perfect. Hey I like your necklace. I might steal it from you."

"Well you better not cause Seth got it for me." She looked at him disbelieving. I cuddled against his burning chest.

"I'm impressed."

"Me too."


	12. Surprise

**I've already written like chapter 14 but I have to fill the gaps between chapters. So be excited for some huge surprises starting in this chapter! You're gunna love it!**

**-Eliza Jane Black**

**Chapter 12: Surprise**

I thought yesterday went well. No major fiascos, just orange converse and delicious chicken. I got dressed to go to the Cullen's house. I threw on a t-shirt and some shorts and slipped my converse on my feet. I was ready to go. I went to show Nessie.

"Eliza that is no way to dress when we go to see your grandparents!" I shuddered at the word _grandparents_. It didn't fit.

"Alice is gunna put me in something there anyway. I'm like her paper doll."

"True." I grabbed my phone just in case and raced to the car. Jake wanted to show of with his Ferrari, though he knew that it would be no match for the Porsche, convertible, Volvo, and countless other cars in the Cullen's garage. We zipped on over and walked up the porch steps. We walked right in like it was our house. They never seemed to mind when we did that.

I could see, though the couch was facing the other direction, Bella was on Edwards lap. He was moving his lips up and down her neck. She looked like she was in heaven. I thought it was romantically repulsive. I put my hand in front of my eyes so I wouldn't have to watch it any more. Edward chuckled lightly causing Bella to look up and see us standing awkwardly by the door. She kissed Edwards forehead and got up to give us hugs.

"I am so glad you are feeling better." Bella gave me a gentle hug and kissed my cheek. Edward did the same. We walked into the kitchen where almost everyone seemed to be. I said hi to everyone but Emmett. I had a special greeting saved just for him. June taught it to me.

"Hey Emmett. How are you? Nice seeing you in a purple soup. Wearin a purple soup buhdoop buhdoop. Wearin a purple soup buhdoop buhdoop. Purple tomatoes and purple potatoes and wearin a purple soup buhdoop buhdoop" The look on his face questioned my sanity.

"You'd look good in a purple soup, Emmett"

"Wait a purple _Soup_?" He started laughing his booming laugh and the others joined him.

"What did you think I said, a purple bikini?" Even I was laughing that time.

When we calmed down Nessie asked, "Where did you get that, um, chant, Eliza?" Everyone looked at me curiously.

"June." Everyone said "Oh" simultaneously, as if that explained the weirdness of it, which it did.

"Let's go upstairs Liza I got you a perfect new dress and new shoes…" Before I knew it I was in her arms and then in her room upstairs. A dress that looked like a white and navy striped t-shirt with a navy, high-waisted skirt was hanging on a hook. Red flats were on the floor below it. She stepped out while I changed. When I was done she put a Navy bow in my hair and put lip-gloss on my lips.

"You look hot," Emmet teased. Rosalie slapped him with the cookbook she was holding and gave him the death glare.

"Common babe, I was joking." He took her in his arms and kissed her. She seemed to like the attention.

"That's enough you two. Their dinner is ready so let's all keep them company at the table." Esme guided me in to the table where a bowl of pasta sat .The smell of marinara sauce filled the air and I stuffed the delicious pasta in my mouth savoring each bite.

When we were done, we all chatted until Carlisle stood up and walked over to Esme saying that they had an announcement. I looked at Edward but his face was expressionless. Alice had a smug little smile and I could tell this would be something good.

"No that our family has expanded, we decided that to express our love for eachother, we are going to renew our wedding vows. We are putting Alice in charge of wedding planning but you all can help if you wish." We were all shocked and excited.

"Also, all of you will be part of the wedding party," Esme continued. We all congratulated them and hugged and kissed and the whole lot. This was going to be fun.

We were there a while catching up and the guys watched a random sports game. I mostly stuck with Alice but I did venture over to the couch once. Emmett must have said something funny, I don't remember what, but everyone started laughing and I did too. But I couldn't stop. I almost collapsed in a pile of hysterics but Edward caught me before I hit the floor. He picked me up and walked over to my mom.

"I think it's somebody's bed time!" He joked and put me down. I glared at him but he laughed it off. Jasper helped calm me down. We talked about the wedding for a little bit.

"I want the girls to wear white and the guys to wear black. I think I want to theme it black and white."

"Great idea Esme! I'll get right on that. I already have a dress in mind." We went on excitedly and made plans for Nessie and me to come when the guys were going hunting in California.

"It getting late and I think someone named Eliza should go to bed soon."

"You sound like my mom!"

"I am your mom!"

"Well you look like sixteen or something!" We laughed but I knew she was right. We said our goodbyes and got into the car. I fell asleep there and Jake had to carry me up to bed.


	13. Hunting

**Were you surprised? The idea surprised me too! I'm gunna put the link up so you can see the dresses! It's at the bottom of my profile!**

**-E.J.B.**

**Chapter 13: Hunting**

I texted with speed. I told Seth that we were having a girl's day to plan the vow renewal. He told me he'd think about me all day. I said ditto. I was excited we needed a fun day just us girls. Talking about girlie stuff. It was perfect that all the guys decided to go hunting in California for the weekend. We sat on the couch in the living room, wedding magazines spread across the coffee table.

"Let's make a guest list." Alice pulled out a notebook and a pen.

"Well obviously you guy. The Denali's definitely. Zafrina, Senna, Kachiri, the Irish coven, maybe Benjamin and Tia. Also all of the wolves. Sam, Seth," she eyed me when she said that. "We should invite Charlie and of course Anna's family and that should be it. I want a small wedding." Alice had all the names in her notebook. She pulled out a few pictures of dresses. One was white and seemed to float, obviously a bridesmaid dress. The other was a wedding gown. It was gorgeous with an A-line skirt and a lace tank with a high neckline over the strapless dress. It was perfect for Esme.

"Alice, It's beautiful. I love it!" We all clapped at Esme's reaction.

"Oh Eliza you would look too cute in this one!" she showed me a dress with spaghetti straps and a bit of sliver trim.

"Wow Alice, you're really nailing the dresses."

"Thanks! It would just be perfect with a white flower in your hair!" We drooled over the dresses some more and then we discussed flowers and tablecloths and had an argument over centerpieces. We worked on scheduling dress fittings. I was getting bored.

"I'm bored," I finally declared.

"Me too. I need to hunt." Rose looked exasperated and hungry.

"Rose, can I come too? I haven't hunted in a while." She looked at Nessie who nodded in approval.

"Well It seems to be ok with Nessie so why not?"

"I'll come with you guys just in case." Bella stood up, obviously ready to do anything to get out of more wedding planning. We walked out the front door and when we were on the porch I hopped on her back so I wouldn't slow them down.

"Ready Liza?"

"Ready Freddy!" I closed my eyes and felt the air speeding by me. We didn't go too far because Nessie would be worried. I could smell deer.

Bella and I have a method. She get's the deer, kills it, and brings it to me and I do the rest. It's just easier cause she is faster and more skilled. She ran off to get me one and came back with a huge buck. I had forgotten how good blood was. I drank it thirstily licking my lips.

"You think you can do it on your own?"

"I think so. You'll be close right?"

"Yes I will. Have fun. I'm going to get some for myself." I walked quietly along toward a clearing. I could tell that deer were near by and I was ready to get at one. I entered the clearing slowly, carefully. And there he was.

He was tall, but not as tall as Jake. His hair brown and a mess with twigs and leaves. He wore shorts and a shirt that emphasized his muscles and said Abercrombie and Fitch. His feet were bare. I looked at his face last. It was so beautiful I wondered why Abercrombie didn't hire him to do their ads. Except his eyes were a dark red. He was hungry.

"Hello there."


	14. Hungry

** I bet you didn't see this coming either! Wait till you get a load of the ending of this story! I'm not giving it away though! And don't worry I'm doing another Eliza story after this one. Happy reading!**

**-E.J.B.**

**Chapter 14: Hungry**

He stepped forward and inhaled the air around him. The smell of my blood was delicious to him. His smile was content with a little evil playing at the sides. He looked at me and spoke.

"My name is Derek. And you are?" his voice was velvety smooth and almost charming.

"Why do you want to know?" My voice was shaking and injected with fear. Not the more confident voice I was trying to portray.

"I like to know who people are before I kill them. I like to know your human identity. It interests me."

"But the human isn't going to be around after you get to them. Besides, I'm not a human." I tried to sound more certain, but it came out as a small whisper. He scoffed, thinking that I was lying just to get out of my death. My heart was beating faster.

"I'm not fooled. I smell your blood. It is quite delicious smelling." I shuddered and stepped back. He stepped forward.

"But−" It was too late. He inched closer stroking my cheek and panic set in. My heart was racing. He sniffed my hair wrinkling his nose when he smelled Jake on me.

"You smell like a dog but I won't let that stop me." He stepped back getting ready to spring. I tried to run but time slowed down. I was running in slow motion and my heart started racing faster. Horror took me but I tried to fight it. I tried to calm down enough to will a giant oak tree fall in front of him.

It broke his concentration for long enough for me to run with the most speed I had ever run, screaming Rosalie's name because I knew she was nearby. She appeared at my side. I hugged her in desperate need of comfort. When she saw my face, she looked up at him for less than a second and pushed me behind her so she was in between the monster and me.

"So she has a little protector, eh?" A growl rose from the back of her throat.

"Leave her alone." Rosalie had a scary expression on her face. It seemed to scream, "die". "She's part vampire. She has the teeth to rip you to shreds."

"That's impossible. You are lying to me just like the girl. Who by the way, never told me her name. That is the most preposterous thing I have ever heard." He inched closer ready to fight for his meal. Then Bella appeared out of nowhere.

"No it's not." He looked up at her with the slightest bit of curiosity. "My husband and I conceived her mother before I became this," she gestured at her body, "But he was already one. She inherited it from him." Derek thought about it for a minute.

"That was an Interesting story. But I'm still hungry and her blood is so tempting. I can't help myself." He lunged at me but Rosalie blocked him.

"Run!" Bella screamed and I ran even faster than before. My mind was racing as fast as my heart. My I welled with tears of utter fear. I thought about calling Alice, Esme, and Nessie, but they were ahead of me. Alice must have seen it coming. She should have warned me before I left. We met in the woods. They were relieved that I was ok. They quickly embraced me and tried to reassure me, but I knew they weren't sure what was going to happen.

"You have to call Jake, Liza. Tell him everything when he gets here." Nessie had panic in her voice. She was just as scared as me. They ran off into the woods to assist Bella and Rose. I ran toward the house trying to calm down but I couldn't help but think of what could have happened. I bolted into the house pushing the door aside, almost breaking it with my force. I pulled out my phone and paced across the living room. I waited for Jake to pick up, impatient with fear and worry brewing inside me.

"Eliza, what's−" I cut him off and almost screamed into the phone.

"You need to come here. NOW."

I waited in the living room. I tried to sit on the couch but was too anxious and scared. Finally I heard his car pull up and I flew out of the door and barreled into him and immediately burst into tears. He wrapped his arms around me.

"It's all my fault! I shouldn't have asked to go hunting in the first place!" I cried into his chest.

"Tell me everything." So I told him how wedding planning was getting exasperating and Rose needed to hunt and I wanted to go so Bella tagged along. Then I told him how Derek appeared in the clearing and all that happened there. I cried harder, soaking his shirt. He pulled it off and let me use it as a tissue.

"I need to go help them out. You are obviously in no shape to stay here alone so I'm gunna get Seth to come by and stay with you while I'm gone." My hysterics calmed down a bit when I heard that Seth was coming. Jake picked me up like a little kid but I didn't mind. I was too absorbed in my fear to care.

As soon as Seth came Jake passed me to him like a mother handing over a baby for someone else to hold, and started running into the forest.


	15. Safety

**Ok I really hated the previous chapter 15 so I changed the whole thing so ta da! Sorry if you liked it before. Change can be a good thing.**

**-Eliza**

**Chapter 15: Safety**

Seth carried me inside and set me down on my feet. In the time it took to get inside, I had calmed down and realized how stupid my hysterics were. I was safe. Derek was being taken care of I was standing. I walked over to the couch and flopped down on the couch. Seth followed my example.

"Are you ok?" Seth asked, wary after my breakdown a few minutes before.

"I'm good now. I'm just glad it's over." I scooted closer to him and he put his arms around me. I leaned my head into his chest. And we sat there like that for a minute. The silence wasn't at all uncomfortable.

"I'm so glad you're safe," He said finally. "They can handle the bloodsucker, but I don't know what I'd do if you weren't hunting with the girls. I probably would have been the one having the breakdown." I laughed at the thought.

"Yeah sure, Seth. You of all people would have a nervous breakdown." I laughed some more and he laughed with me but I could tell that he was serious.

"I'm bored. I think I left my ipod upstairs. Come with me to get it." Seth didn't protest when I grabbed his hand and dragged him up off the couch and up the stairs into my room, where my ipod was sitting on the side table where I left it. Somehow this relieved me and it seemed to relieve Seth too. If there was one object that consumed my life it was my ipod. If Derek or anyone for that matter wanted my scent, they would find it on that ipod. I grabbed the ear buds and we headed back downstairs to the couch.

"What's on your ipod?" Seth asked.

"Music," I smiled widely. "And apps." He chuckled and rolled his eyes. "No, I have a lot of different stuff. Ever head of Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People?"

"Nope."

"Well then, I'm about to change your life Seth Clearwater. Because this is an amazing song."

"You've already changed my life Eliza Cullen-Black." His smile was so wide and I climbed into his lap and put one of the earbuds into his ear and one into mine. We sat and listened.

"You're right about this changing my life," He commented halfway through the song. "This is a very good song."

"I'm happy I could be of service to you." We laughed together. "I love you, Seth." He hugged me closer.

"I love you too, Liza." I could hear the adoration in his voice. But the moment was ruined when the front door burst open and everybody streamed into the living room.

"We got him!" said Alice. Everyone was smiling and high five-ing even though it wasn't much of a battle.

"So he's gone."

"To the deepest pits of hell!" Rose laughed and everyone joined her.

"You're safe now, Eliza," Esme said pulling me into a hug. Esme was always so motherly to me, that I always considered her my mom and Nessie more of a sister. That also helped us when we were in public, since Nessie really did look like my sister and telling people that she was my mom would make them suspicious.

"When the guys come back, they'll be pretty frantic. Except for Emmett of course." Bella shook her head.

"We had it no problem. Edward has nothing to have a heart attack about," said Jake.

"Well, knowing Edward, he probably will anyway." We laughed at Alice's comment. "They'll be back soon so prepare yourselves. And I know exactly the three people he'll be the most relieved about." She glanced at Bella, Nessie, and me.

"I bet he'll yell at me for insisting on going hunting." Everyone started to disperse. I saw Jacob kiss Nessie and head out to patrol. Just in case Derek had any friends. Seth stayed behind me, though.

"He can't be that mad at you," Bella said. I gave her a look

"Bella. Come on. It's Edward." But she dismissed it and walked over to the other side of the room with her vibrating phone in her hand. She was talking really fast so all I heard "I'll give it to her," and "Don't be too harsh." I knew it was Edward and I wasn't scared. It wasn't a big deal so he had no reason to get angry with me.

I held my hand out for the phone, and Bella placed it there.

"Hi, Edward," I said in a cheerful voice that seemed to catch him off guard.

"You sound normal."

"As opposed to what?"

"Eliza, you can be just like Bella sometimes. You were almost attacked by a vampire and you are behaving completely normal!"

"That sounds about right." He sighed exasperated.

"At least everything's all right now. And he's gone…" he trailed off.

"Yeah."

"I'm not angry with you, Eliza. I just want you to stay with us tonight instead of going home."

"Edward, the wolves are patrolling and everything's fine. You're overreacting can't I go home?" He sighed.

"Ok fine. But don't go until we get back."

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you, too." I then handed the phone back to Bella.

I walked over to Seth and we quietly made our way to the kitchen to grab something to eat. It was already close to dinnertime and we were getting hungry. The day had just flown by. It was weird how it could drastically change from a bad day to a good day so quickly. I threw a microwave pizza in the microwave and started snacking on carrots while we waited for Carlisle, Emmet, Jasper, and Edward to get there.

We didn't have to wait long because a few minutes later I could hear them coming through the front door. I was too occupied with dinner to go say hello, but I knew that Edward would eventually come to me. I had a mouth full of pizza when Edward and Carlisle came into the kitchen. Edward had his arm locked around Bella's waist and his worried expression turned to one of relief when he saw that I was safe and heard that my thoughts were normal. He came over and hugged me, his arm still wrapped around Bella as if he couldn't let go.

"Ok I believe you. You can go if you want."

"Great. I'd hate to be stuck here," I said sarcastically. "And I'm taking the pizza."

"You should probably eat this here, Liza. We wouldn't want you to get car sick." Bella helped me onto one of the tall stools at the island in the kitchen as she said this. I couldn't refuse because I was just so hungry. Seth sat down next to me, eating everything that I didn't. When we were done, we joined Nessie in the living room.

"Ready to go?" She asked.

"Yep." We said our goodbyes and climbed into the car to go home. Seth had already left to start his patrol. When we arrived home, Jacob was already there. He told us that they didn't find anything new in the woods, which gave us a sense of relief.

I was so tired from the day's events that I just wanted to go to sleep. I took a shower before climbing into bed. I just lied there for minute before closing my eyes, but I opened them immediately. Derek's face was all I could see looming under my eyelids. The sides of his mouth were pulled up into a nasty grin and his eyes had a sinister gleam to them.

I was almost afraid that I would have nightmares of him, but I decided that I was too tired to stay up all night, so I closed my eyes again and clung to the thought that he was dead. Soon I was able to fall asleep. Luckily, it was a dreamless night.

I lazily opened my eyes the next morning and had to cover my face with my pillow. Why was it so bright? I groaned. But then I realized what was going on and my eyes popped open. It was sunny. At La Push. I almost couldn't believe it.

I dashed into Jake and Nessie's room where they were still sleeping.

"Guys get up! The world must have ended or something because it's actually sunny!" I shouted at them. The same look of annoyance was on each of their faces, but then they looked out the window.

"Wow. It really is sunny." I sat down next to Nessie on the bed. She yawned, "You should get dressed and call Seth. Maybe you can go to the beach. It might even be warm enough to go in water."

"Awesome!" I ran to my closet and set aside a bathing suit just in case, but I threw on denim shorts and a shirt that had a heart made out of a treble and bass clef on the front. I slid my feet into flip flops and braided my hair to the side before finding my phone and calling Seth.

"Good Morning, Liza," He yawned.

"It's sunny!" I sing-songed.

"Yeah I can see that. It's nice."

"Come over. We can go to the beach. Maybe it will feel like summer for a change." He chuckled.

"I'll be over soon. I can't wait to see you." He sounded eager.

"What a coincidence! I can't wait to see you either!" We laughed. It was amazing how easily this whole imprinting thing came to us even though we were relatively new to it.

"I love you."

"I love you, too." I hung up the phone and went back to Nessie and Jake's room to see if they actually got up. They were just walking out the door when I got there. We walked downstairs to eat breakfast together. I walked over to the coffee table to get my ipod.

"Shoot!"

"What's up?"

"I left my ipod at Carlisle and Esme's."

"Well that's a problem. I can drive over there while Jake's patrolling today and get it for you."

"Thanks." I grabbed the bow of cereal that Jake had just poured and started eating it.

"I promise it will be here before you get back from the beach." I finished off my bowl of cereal just as I heard a knock at the door. I dropped my spoon and rushed over to open it.

"Hi!" Seth hugged me. "Ready to go?"

"No, I need to get my phone. And a towel. And a bag."

"Eliza, don't forget sunscreen," said Nessie.

"We actually own that?" Jake laughed.

"Wow this is my house and I didn't even know we had that.

"A little sunburn won't hurt me. This will only happen once in my life." Nessie rolled her eyes at the hyperbole.

"Just you wait. You'll be screaming in pain tonight when your skin is red and peeling." I just smiled charmingly and grabbed my stuff.

"Ready, Liza?"

"Yep! Let's go!" We walked outside and stared up at the bright blue sky. And the emerald green grass was shimmering in the light. The ocean was a beautiful blue instead of depressing gray. Even from my house we could see everybody taking today as an opportunity to go to the beach. We could even see Quill and Claire sitting on the rocks.

Even though Claire was born before me, I looked to be about two years older than her. Though we saw eachother a lot, since Jake and Quill were best friends, I wasn't that close with her. Seth sensed that I really didn't feel like seeing them so we walked over to a more peaceful part of the beach and sat down on the rocks soaking up the sun.

"Let's go in the water, Liza." He scooped me up and started walking over to the ocean.

"But I really like this shirt!"

"There is a wonderful invention called a washing machine so you don't have anything to worry about. I won't let anything happen to you." He set me down on my feet and held my hand and we ran into the ocean splashing eachother. In this sunny setting, it was hard to believe that a vampire was going to make me his meal in the rainy forest, just a day before.


	16. Dresses and Motor Oil

**New chapter! Yay! A few things before you start reading. One: I made a lot of changes to Chapter 15 so before you read this, if you haven't already, read the new and improved Chapter 15. Two: I'm changing my penname to Liza Cullen-Black because someone stole Eliza Cullen-Black Enjoy!**

**-Eliza**

**Chapter 16: Dresses and Motor Oil**

Unfortunately, it couldn't be sunny two days in a row. I could hear the gentle patter of rain as we drove to the Cullen's house to try on our dresses for the wedding. We were already nearing the winding road that would take us there. Alice was at the end of the road impatiently waiting for us. Before the car even stopped moving, she was pulling my door open and yanking me out of the car. She was talking super fast in her excitement.

"Slow down Alice!" I said, my mind racing trying to keep up.

"The dresses are perfect! And you should see Esme's! It's gorgeous!" She led us into the front room and standing in front of a full-length mirror, was Esme in her dress.

"Wow," was all Nessie could say as she gazed at it. It was off-white with an a-line skirt. The bodice was covered in lace and belted at the waist, which gave it more of a vintage look. It was sleeveless with a high neckline. It really was the perfect dress for Esme. You could see it in her beaming face.

"Esme you're so beautiful!" I finally whispered.

"Thank you, dear. Of course Alice picked the perfect dress." Alice was already positioning a small, vintage veil in her hair. "The veil was my mother's. I never thought to wear it until Alice brought it up."

"People would pay you a lot of money to plan their weddings, Alice. They all turn out perfect," Bella said from her spot on the couch. Alice chuckled tiny bells.

"You know I only plan weddings for people I love," she said back, winking. "Which reminds me, Esme, tell them about our change in plans."

"Before Alice sent the invitations out, I decided that I wanted to make the wedding very small and personal, since it's a vow renewal. So I downsized the guest list to, of course, all of you, Tanya's coven, and the wolves, if they want to come. I'm sure Jacob and Seth will be here but for the rest, I won't take it personally if they don't want to be here. And because everybody is close by, we're going to have the wedding in two weeks."

"I actually like that better," Bella said.

"Yes, it'll be much nicer that way," agreed Rose. Everybody seemed to agree that a smaller guest list would be much better. And since we were all so excited for the wedding, the earlier date pleased us. I secretly was glad that I didn't have to see Anna. We were already growing apart; after all we lead two very different lives. But as soon as Seth imprinted on me, I felt like I didn't want to hang out with her anymore. I was glad that I wouldn't have to say anything, because I knew that she would notice something going on.

"I'll get the bridesmaids dresses," sang Alice, pulling me from my reverie. She only took one second to reappear at the bottom of the steps, holding five garment bags. She laid them down carefully on the couch and unzipped one to show us, bursting with pride.

It was a pale pink one-shoulder dress with flowers going from the strap to across the neckline. It was cinched at the waist at gently flowed out from there. Alice darted away again to get our shoes. Every pair was different. Mine were pale pink peep-toe pumps with a little bow on the front.

"What do you think?" She said with a smile in her voice.

"You already know what we're going to say," said Nessie.

"You're right. And you all love them! So go put them on." We each went to various rooms to carefully change into the beautiful dresses and shoes. I carefully walked down the stairs and everyone was already there, admiring eachother in their dresses.

"Everybody looks so pretty!" I observed. Alice had picked out the perfect size for everyone. She even gave me a little room to grow, since I was growing so fast.

"You look pretty!" Nessie said pulling me into a hug.

"This is going to be great," Rose said to Alice who was also sporting her dress.

"Okay enough fun. We don't want to ruin the dresses before the wedding. I might not be able to get more. I had to get these specially made." Bella rolled her eyes at Alice's thoroughness. But we all went upstairs to change into our normal clothes, and came back downstairs.

"So if we're inviting wolves, we obviously need food, so we have a tasting in two days so are you available Nessie?" Alice was back in wedding planner mode.

"Yeah I think so."

"Good. And cake. We have a tasting for that on the same day. I'd assume that you can come to that as well. So that's about it for now. I've got the rest under control."

"Wait, Alice. I'm sure their hungry. Do you want me to make you lunch?" asked Esme.

"Yes, please!" I said and we made our way to the kitchen for food. After we were well fed and the guys had come back from wherever they were hiding, we left to go join Jake at his repair shop. This was normal, since Jake and Nessie couldn't be away from eachother all day.

We stopped at home to change into older clothes because we knew we would get dirty at the shop. I threw on old denim shorts, a light blue t-shirt that had Wolf's Auto Repair in black letters across the front (Jake decided to throw a little irony in the name of his shop), and the converse that June gave me.

I slid my phone in my pocket, and something told me to bring my laptop so I grabbed that too. Nessie was wearing an almost identical outfit to mine, so we looked like twins.

"Do you have everything?" I asked

"Oh! I don't have my laptop. Never mind I left it at the shop. Let's go." Nessie was all too eager to see Jake, and luckily Jake's shop wasn't very far. It was on the outskirts of the reservation, close enough to Forks that people in town could bring their cars their. We drove the short distance and were out of the car in three minutes.

Jake was in the garage helping his assistant, Anthony put tires on a Toyota Camry. He looked up at the sound of our arrival and immediately dropped what he was doing to come over and hug Nessie.

"I missed you, Ness," he said giving her a kiss.

"That's why we came." Jake ruffled my hair, to my annoyance. "You should get back to work. I have some accounting to do anyway. My laptop's still in the office, right?"

"Don't worry, I didn't touch it. I didn't want to get any motor oil on it." We all laughed since just about everything at the shop had oil on it. Nessie and I went into the office, where her laptop was sitting on the desk. She immediately got to work, while I watched YouTube videos on my laptop and texted Seth. Jake came in after about 45 minutes to take a break. He pulled Nessie into his lap and sat at the desk, eating a granola bar.

"How's accounting going?" he asked Nessie, glancing at the computer screen.

"I'm almost done. But I think I'm going to stop since I've had it with numbers," Nessie replied.

"Oh, so you were doing my math homework?" I asked. Jake and Nessie cracked up. "No I'm serious. I always had a headache after factoring so many quadratics."

"You're losing me," Jake said.

"It's not my fault I'm smarter than you. It's probably Nessie since I couldn't have gotten any of my intelligence from you, Jake." He turned to Nessie.

"She's probably right."

"Jacob, come on, you're stupid at all," she said back. He kissed her on the cheek and the carefully lifted her off his lap so he could get up.

"I should get back to work," he said. "Anthony needs my help on this old Ford we're trying to fix up for someone."

"Be careful," Nessie called after him. She came over to sit on the couch next to me. She pulled my laptop into her lap and opened up garage band.

"Play me something on the piano," she requested. I took the computer and played the melody of a lullaby that we sang in my school's choir. The last note was still ringing in the air when Jake suddenly burst through the door. His eyebrows were knitted together in concern. The look on his face was instantly mirrored on Nessie's. He had his phone in his hand.

"What is it, Sam?" he asked, his voice anxiety, as if he knew Sam called with bad news. This set me on edge, since Sam usually only called with bad news. Nessie was gripping my hand to calm herself down. There was a relatively short pause.

"_What?_"

Pause.

"We'll be there." He closed the phone and the worry on his face was more prominent now. We were startled by this reaction and confused when he walked over to us and pulled us towards the door.

"We need to go. _Now_."


	17. Fire

**I'm really sorry this took so long! I left you with a cliffhanger there. I had to do a lot of editing to this chapter. Anyway this is an interesting twist that my friend Maddie suggested so I have to thank her by telling you to read her stories. Her penname is converse37. Enjoy!**

**-Eliza**

**Chapter 17: Fire**

Jake pulled us toward his car and started driving fast. The engine inside the Rabbit couldn't quite keep up with the speed he was trying to go. I had no idea what was going on and the confusion had me stunned to silence. Nessie took a deep breath and tried to sound calm but I could hear the worry in her voice.

"Jacob, what's going on?" she asked, putting her hand on his shoulder. He hesitated.

"Our house caught on fire," he whispered. My eyes widened. I refused to believe it. There was only a little relief when I knew that Seth was safe.

"_Oh my god_," Nessie gasped. Her face had lost its color.

"You're Joking. Please tell me you're joking, Jake," I said.

"I wish I could, Liza." My mind couldn't fully comprehend what this meant. We were just down the street from the house. Fire trucks and police cars surrounded the smoking black shell of what used to be our home. Charlie was waiting for our arrival; the panic fading from his slightly wrinkled face when he saw us all in the car. Jake was the first one out of the car with Nessie and me close behind.

"Charlie, what happened?" Jake asked him, his voice intense but calm. Being a wolf helped him stay calm in these situations.

"We're not quite sure. We think that someone caused the fire because there was no evidence of anything left on while you weren't here. We found some matches over by the back of your house. Luckily, your friend Quil saw the fire and called 911," he explained, "The forest is being search right now for the culprit. You're going to sort this out with your insurance. Maybe you'll be able to build a new house."

"Maybe. We still have to figure out where we'll be staying tonight," said Nessie.

"I'm sure you don't want to stay at my place. I can call Bella for you." Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. While he dialed Bella's number, Jake went over to talk to the other police officers. Charlie waited only a brief second before I could faintly hear Bella's on the other end.

"Hey, Bells…You need to get down to La Push. Jake and Nessie's house was set on fire…Don't worry they weren't home. They're all here with me…We think someone caused it but we're not sure…It doesn't look like much survived as far as the house goes…Alright see you soon." They finished the conversation and Charlie hung up. "Bella and Edward will be here momentarily," he told us. He went back to the cruiser and we were left standing there awkwardly.

"So…what do we do now?" I asked.

"I really don't know," she replied. Jake came back and wrapped his arms around Nessie.

"It smells like vampire down there, and not just Bella or Edward. It's an unfamiliar scent. That might explain why Sam or Quil didn't come to meet us," he said, his brow furrowed.

"Do you think that has anything to do with the fire?" I asked. Just then we saw Edward's silver Volvo zooming down the street. He pulled up right next to where Nessie, Jake, and I were standing. Bella and Edward immediately hugged us, telling us how glad they were that we weren't home.

"The most important things are safe. The rest of this will be much easier to deal with," Edward reassured us. Nessie seemed to need reassurance more that the rest of us.

"Are you guys okay?" Bella asked worriedly.

"Nessie's having a hard time dealing with this," Jake said with concern.

"I'm fine, Jacob," Nessie countered, unconvincingly. "Eliza's handling this very well."

"Only because it hasn't quite hit me yet," I said. Just then a rustling sound came from the forest behind the house, and everyone turned. Sam, Quil, Embry, and Seth came through the leaves. I immediately felt happy to see Seth. He pulled me into his arms, and I could sense how glad he was to see me.

"Tell me everything Sam," Jake demanded urgently.

"I'm sure you smelled the vampire over by the woods," Sam said quietly.

"It turns out that it was the bloodsucker that started the fire," added Embry.

"Yeah, Jake," said Quil. "Claire and I were walking around and we saw smoke coming from your house. I could smell the bloodsucker, so I ran to Sam and Emily's and dropped Claire off so we could figure out what was up."

"That's when Quil called 911 and then we searched the woods. We found her in the forest behind your house and took care of everything. She had a box of matches in her pocket identical to the ones that were at your house," Sam concluded.

"But why would she set fire to our house?" Nessie asked.

"Well when we came at her she was screaming the name Derek, if that answers your question. We think she was his mate. And Eliza's scent led her here." Seth cringed when Sam said that. "She was probably planning to go to you place next, Edward, since some of the scents were from you family."

"Thank you for dealing with that," Jake said. Sam, Quil, and Embry said they had to go, but Seth stuck around for a little longer. We watched as they walked away.

"Jacob, Renesmee, if you aren't already staying somewhere, we'd be more than happy to lend you our house if you need a place to stay. Bella and I won't mind living with Carlisle and Esme for a while," Edward offered.

"We can't do that, Edward," Nessie said shaking her head.

"No, Ness, he has a point. We won't have to worry about paying rent, and we're already used to it there. We can't get any better than that," Jake pointed out. Nessie paused to think this over.

"Nessie, we don't mind at all. It's the least we can do," Bella said.

"I would be way more comfortable living there," I added. That seemed to decide it for her.

"You're right," Nessie sighed "It would probably be easier for all of us."

"I need to go talk to the insurance agent. They're going to see if any of our stuff survived. You guys should go and I'll meet you there later," Jake said.

"Are you sure?" Nessie asked.

"Yeah, you go ahead. I can also go pick up your laptops at the shop." Jake hugged Nessie and me and walked back towards the house.

"I better go too," Seth said. "Sam's going to wonder where I am."

"No, stay!" I whined.

"I'll come over first thing tomorrow," he said to reassure me.

"Okay," I said with reluctance, and he jogged back into the forest to phase. Edward held the car door open for Nessie and me and we drove to the Cullen house.

Before we were in the garage, Alice appeared from the woods in the direction of Edward and Bella's house. Edward rolled down the window to talk to her.

"I stocked the closet with clothes for Jake, Nessie, and Eliza," Alice said.

"Alice, you're going overboard," Edward warned.

"I already had the clothes, Edward."

"Yeah because she just loves using us as her personal paper dolls," I said rolling my eyes.

"There's more good news. We have copies of all you legal documents in Carlisle's office."

"Really? Birth certificates, insurance policies, and everything?" Nessie asked, stepping out of the car. I followed her and started walking up the front steps.

"Yep!"

We were walking through the door and into the kitchen, where Esme was plating slices of pizza for us.

"Thank you," Nessie said

"You guys are family," Esme replied, hugging us. "It's no problem."

She sat down with us at the dinning room table and discussed building a new house with Nessie while we ate.

"You know how much I enjoy designing homes," Esme said.

"Could I help a little? Or at least design my room?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course you can, dear."

"I can't wait to see it, Esme. But we should wait a little while. We wouldn't want to start too soon. And Jake and I are going to work out more with the insurance company tomorrow, so we'll see what happens," Nessie said.

"I'll get started on blueprints anyway." When we were finished eating, we made our way to the cottage. Bella and Edward were already there making sure everything was in order.

"We can let you settle in," Bella said.

"No, you can stay," Nessie replied.

"You've been very quiet Eliza. That's highly unusual," Bella commented. I smiled at her.

"I'm just tired. And this is tough," I said.

"Yeah, I know." Just then, Nessie's phone rang and she went into the other room to answer it. When she came back she told us that Jake was coming. I walked into Nessie's old room for some privacy. The walls were a pale pink and I sat down on the pink and orange floral bedding.

I went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and take a long shower. The warm water was soothing. But just as I was getting comfortable, it all came crashing down on me.

My house was gone.

I would never be there again.

Everything that I owned except for my phone, my laptop, and the clothes on back was burned to a crisp.

I was shaking when I came out of the shower. Silent teas started running down my face as I put on my pajamas and climbed into bed. The only thing that could calm me down was Seth's voice. I pulled out my phone and hugged my knees to my chest while I waited for him to pick up.

"Liza?"

"Hi."

"What's wrong, Eliza?" Of course he could sense the slightest hint of crying in my voice.

"It's all just hitting me now."

"You can't let this get to you, love. You're safe, Jake is safe, Nessie's safe, you're staying with your family, and you couldn't have been more lucky in this situation."

"You're right, Seth," I said wiping my eyes. "This is stupid, I shouldn't be crying."

"No, you have every reason to be upset. Like I said earlier, I'll come over tomorrow to see you."

"Okay. I'll be looking forward to it."

"I will too. Now go to sleep, Liza. I know you're tired."

"I will. Love you, Seth.

"I love you, too. Sleep well." I hung up the phone and closed my eyes and let sleep overtake me.


	18. Getting Better

**Sorry this took so long! I really have no excuse for it taking this long since I've had more than enough time. I redid parts of this chapter multiple times. Anyway, you're reviews are amazing, so if you could take to seconds and give me feedback please do! Enjoy this chapter!**

**- Eliza**

**Chapter 18: Getting Better**

I turned the doorknob on my bedroom door and stepped inside. That's when I saw him. He was lying spread-eagled on the floor, his eyes open but staring into space. It couldn't be real.

But that was definitely Seth, dead on my bedroom floor.

"MOTHER!" It was like I was a young child again. I was bawling by now, screaming at the most horrible pain in my chest. Nessie entered the room but only gave a little "humph" and turned to leave. But I desperately grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Kill me, Mom. Please. I can't live with out him," I begged between sobs. She easily released my grip and walked out into the hallway and shut the door. Before I could react, I heard the turn of the lock. She had locked me in my worst nightmare.

I dragged my screaming self to him and put my head on his chest. The pain I felt was almost unbearable; it was like a fire burning through my heart. And when I looked up, my bedroom was really on fire and I was shrieking as Seth turned to ash in front of me. The heat of the flames was almost as bad as my misery.

Someone was calling my name from far away. At first I wasn't sure who it was, but then I recognized it to be Nessie. She sounded extremely worried. I was thoroughly confused when I opened my eyes. Why was I in Nessie's old room? She was looking at me with an expression of deep concern.

"Eliza, are you ok?"

"So it was a dream." I felt my face and it was surprisingly wet.

"You were screaming pretty loudly." I sighed in relief.

"Seth's alive."

"Yes, he is. That must have been some nightmare." She put her arm around me. "Everything's alright...well except for our house. But it will be fine eventually. You should get dressed. Seth will be here soon." Though I knew I would see him, a little bit of the pain from the dream remained as if I wasn't positive that he would come.

Absentmindedly, I entered the gigantic closet and grabbed the first t-shirt I could find and a pair of running shorts to go with it. I put on a pair of sneakers and started towards the kitchen without bothering to do anything to my hair. Jake was waiting at the table while Nessie got breakfast ready.

"You are quite the screamer, Liza. Is everything alright?" Jake asked as Nessie brought a large stack of pancakes to the table. She rested her hand on his cheek for a brief moment and his expression immediately changed from happily joking to serious and understanding. He hugged me and reassured me that Seth was fine and would be here momentarily. I nodded and started picking at a pancake.

Breakfast was unusually quiet, since Jake and Nessie were obviously shying away from the topic of the fire for my sake, but also for theirs. No one seemed to have anything else to contribute. Unwillingly, Nessie slipped in that the fire had been in the local newspaper that morning. She passed it to me, so I could read the article.

FIRE IN LA PUSH DESTROYS FAMILY HOME

That was enough for me to push it back towards Nessie without continuing. Having to relive the tragedy through the words of some bland journalist wasn't what I wanted to do. Attention never bothered me but suddenly, this article was the last thing I wanted. Already it was turning out to be a terrible day.

Glancing out the window, I noticed that it was raining considerably harder than it usually did in Forks. Though it couldn't have been later than 9:30 am, the sky was as dark as evening. Thunder rumbled in the distance, which made me think that under normal circumstances, we would probably be invited to play baseball by Edward and Bella. But these weren't normal circumstances.

For the first time in my life, I actually felt a bit depressed. At first it surprised me, but I was feeling to upset about the recent events for the feeling to last. Even Nessie's delicious pancakes weren't enough to cheer me up. If she or Jake noticed my unusual mood, they didn't show it, and I preferred it that way.

Grabbing my plate, I rose from my seat and traipsed to the sink to deposit my dirty dish before retreating to my bedroom to be alone. With the volume turned all the way up, I put my laptop's iTunes on shuffle and sprawled out on my bed, staring at the Pepto-pink ceiling.

Ironically, the song that came on first was "Getting Better" by The Beatles, which warranted an unfamiliar dry chuckle to escape my lips. How could I admit that things were getting better when my house was now a charred skeleton? The song drowned out the soft tapping on the door until it became an audible pounding that I acknowledged reluctantly.

"Come in if you must," I said, not wanting the company.

"Well, I must, so I'm coming in," Seth said as he stepped inside. Happiness flooded over me at the sound of his voice. Seth was my ultimate antidepressant. He sauntered over to the bed and held out his hand and I grabbed it to pull my self up. The lyrics exiting the speakers were less ironic now that I was feeling normal.

"It's getting better since you've been mine," I sang to myself as I threw my arms around him. Warmth enveloped me and my heart was singing along with me when Seth's arms were around me.

"I'm sorry if I interrupted whatever you were doing," he said after a second.

"I was staring at the ceiling ruminating over how unfortunate my life is right now. It's a good thing you showed up."

He rolled his eyes and I laughed and pulled my laptop over to change the song. "What are we listening to?" He sat down next to me on the bed and looked over my shoulder as I pressed play and "Pumped Up Kicks" came through the speakers. Seth obviously remembered me playing it for him in other desperate times.

Proud of my effort to learn all of the lyrics, I sang along while Seth examined the rest of my iTunes library, pointing out songs he liked and raising his eyebrows at songs that were there more for nostalgia then for the actual song itself.

"Can I pick the next song?"

"Of course." I snuggled closer to him as I watched him click "The Man Who Can't Be Moved".

"Good choice," I said, squeezing his hand. "I didn't know you liked The Script."

"Yeah, they kind of grew on me. Leah listens to them sometimes," he admitted. Considering that many of their songs were about heartbreak, it wasn't too surprising that Leah would be drawn to them.

"I bet it's the lyrics that draw her in." He was playing with my hair, pulling on a ringlet and watching it bounce back like a spring, while we listened. Through the open door, I saw that Nessie was coming back from her provisional bedroom carrying her bag.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Um, yes. I didn't tell you at breakfast. Jake and I have to meet with the insurance person." This information wasn't surprising and I could see why she didn't tell me when I was in such a terrible mood earlier.

"That sucks for you. It's a torrential downpour outside."

"About that, Jake and I think it would be better if you two should come with us to Carlisle and Esme's house, not that we don't trust you, but after everything that's happened…" There was no need for her to finish that sentence.

"That would probably be safer," Seth chimed in.

"Whatever," I sighed. Having to run through the pouring rain was not one of my favorite activities, but I grabbed my phone and headed towards the door with Nessie. Jake was already heading out the door to phase so his clothes wouldn't get as wet.

"Seth, come on," he said, beckoning Seth to follow his example. I gave Seth an encouraging nod and he squeezed my hand before jogging through the door.

"Here, Liza. Put your phone in my bag so it doesn't get wet and then let's go." Nessie held out her hand and I dropped my phone in it. Once it was tucked safely in her bag, we made a run for it.

Immediately, icy droplets pelted my entire body as I sprinted through the muddy forest. Seth emerged from the trees to my right and started running along side me, keeping pace. In mere minutes I was already sopping with freezing cold rain and spattered in the mud that I was kicking up.

But it was exhilarating. All of the things that had happened in the past few days I was leaving behind and now all I had to think about was what was ahead. Thunder echoed ominously through the trees. Seth was running at near vampire speed now, but I had no trouble keeping up with him.

Soon we were already at the big, white house and Seth turned away to phase back to his human form while Nessie and I took the porch steps two at a time to get inside where Alice was waiting with a stack of white fluffy towels.

"You two are drenched!" She wrapped a towel around me and used another to dry my hair. Water from my hair dripped onto the hard wood floor to emphasize her point. "I have clothes for you to change into upstairs," Alice added, disappearing and reappearing with two outfits folded into their own neat stacks.

Grabbing my clothes, I headed upstairs to the bathroom to change, but not before kicking of my shoes so I wouldn't track mud all over the house. From the sound of it, Jake and Seth were just coming in as I was pulling on the jeans and floral t-shirt that Alice gave to me. As always, the outfit was perfect, and I admired it in the mirror while examining my dripping hair.

"Oh, what the heck?" I muttered, more to myself though I knew that they could hear it from downstairs. Without a second glance, I started for the stairs, sopping hair and all. Seth was waiting with his arms open and I ran into him and pressed my head against his warm chest.

"We better get out of here," Jake interrupted, holding the door open impatiently for Nessie. She tossed me my phone and I caught it in my cupped hands.

"Love you." She blew a kiss and they were out the door before I could say, "Love you, too".

"That was actually fun."

"I thought you didn't want to run through the forest in the pouring rain," Seth quipped.

"That was before I actually did." Alice was sitting at one of the stools at the island when we entered the kitchen, talking on her phone in full wedding planner mode. She held up a finger as she wrapped up her conversation with what sounded like the florist.

"So Alice, I hear you're the resident wedding planner for Carlisle and Esme," Seth said when she was done on the phone.

"Someone has to make sure it goes off without a hitch."

"It's going to be perfect, Alice. It's like everything you touch is automatically gorgeous."

"Thank you, Eliza," she beamed and hugged me. "Seth, do you mind if I give you the invitations to give to the pack?"

"I wouldn't mind at all," he replied, ushering me towards the table. Esme entered the room then and Alice used her entrance as an excuse to leave the room to use the computer. Being the motherly person that she is, Esme insisted on making lunch for us and Seth and I chatted while she busied herself in the kitchen.

"I wonder what's going to happen, Seth."

"What do you mean?" He dragged my chair closer to his so I could lean against him and he could put his arm around my shoulders.

"You know with this whole fire thing. What if Jake and Nessie decide to move? Esme probably already started on blueprints in case they want to rebuild, but that will take a long time and they won't want to wait. As much as I love everyone here, I just want to go home."

"I know, it really sucks," he said, squeezing my shoulder. "But you have nothing to worry about. I guarantee that the farthest away you could move is Forks and that's not far at all. It will get better. And I'll be here for you if you need me."

His words were true. Not a single reason to argue with him revealed itself.

"You're right. Thanks. It's just hard not to−"

"−worry," he finished for me, a smile was now playing at the corners of my lips. If the world were full of people like Seth, it would be a much better place. Plates appeared in front of us and I glanced up to thank Esme.

"It was nothing. Now eat up."

"Henry the Eighth's surname…it's Tudor," I announced touching the letters on the screen and then "guess". Seth and I were on the couch playing 7 Little Words on my iPod.

"Nice," he praised and high fived me. "What about disorganized?" Silence fell as we scanned the letters and tried to work it out.

"Messy? No…" Seth tried to test something but he couldn't find the right combination of letters. Nothing came to me so I stared at the screen blankly. My head was in his lap and Seth was rubbing my back, while trying to solve the other clues until eventually disorganized was one of the last three clues to solve.

"Did you try chaotic?" I quickly sat up and saw that Jake and Nessie were back with Edward and Bella. Figuring that Edward knew what he was talking about, I tried it out and a _bing_ announced that it was correct.

"Thanks! I would have never thought of that." Everyone else looked less confused now that they could guess that we were playing 7 Little Words. "How did it go?" I asked Jake and Nessie.

"It went well," Jake answered.

"Care to be more specific?"

"We decided what we're going to do," Nessie said. Esme and Alice stepped into the room to hear what she was going to say. Seth squeezed my hand excitedly. "We're going to buy a house instead of building a new one. I hope you didn't start designing something, Esme, but Jake and I think we should get into our own house sooner rather than later."

There was a pause of them waiting for my reaction, but I was already decided.

"Sounds good to me," I said and I walked over to hug both Jake and Nessie. One of us could be gone, but we were all safe and that was a reason to celebrate.

"Where are you going to be looking for houses?" Seth asked loudly, making sure I was listening.

"La Push first. You know I need to stay near the pack," Jake answered.

"And if worst comes to worst, Forks," Nessie added. Seth gave me an I-told-you-so look. Conversation continued, but my thoughts wandered to other places like house hunting.

House hunting. It was something I always wanted to do; yet now it seemed like we wouldn't be able to find anything better than our old house. From his hand around mine, I could tell that Seth would be with me through this. This was crazy, but I knew that it was getting better.


	19. When I Think Of Home

**Hi guys! I have some awesome news! My friend and I are co-writing a fanfiction! It's called Change of Heart and our penname is Grangers. The link is also on my profile. Please, please, please check it out and tell your friends! And of course, enjoy this chapter.**

**-Eliza**

**Chapter 19: When I Think Of Home**

A woman in a gray suit stood in front of a house with the lights glowing gold through the windows. It seemed like a nice house from the view through the rain dripping down the windows of Jake's Volkswagen Rabbit. We rolled to a stop and he and Nessie released their grip on each other's hands to step out of the car and open the door for me to come out as well.

"Hello. I'm Linda," the realtor said in a business-like voice holding out her hand so Jake, then Nessie could shake it. "You must be Jacob and Renesmee."

"Yes, we are," Nessie replied.

"And who are you?" Linda asked me in a very patronizing voice.

"I'm Renesmee's sister," I lied. Role-play was always important when we were in public. If people found out that Nessie was my mom, they would be suspicious because we only looked about two years apart. That's why at school Esme and Carlisle posed as my parents and Nessie was out of the picture.

"Oh, ok. Shall we go inside?" she replied. We stepped into the house and walked through the entry hall to find that the living room was larger than the last one. Though it was empty of furniture, it had a homey feel and seemed a bit familiar since the golden lighting and hardwood floor was similar to Carlisle and Esme's house.

"So what do you guys think?" Linda asked, breaking the silence of us examining the room.

"This is nice," Jake answered fondly.

"I like this a lot." Nessie added. I nodded in agreement. All reluctance to moving vanished as we walked through the rest of the house. We never knew we were settling with the last house, but looking at this one, I knew it was perfect for us. Calling this house "home" would be as effortless as breathing.

As we continued through the rest of the house, we realized how much larger it was than our last house. Each room was better than the next: a huge kitchen with a breakfast nook, a back porch with giant windows that looked into the woods, and a giant bathroom on the second floor were only a few of the rooms that made this house amazing.

But only when we reached the room at the end of the upstairs hallway did I fall in love. Like the rest of the house, there was hardwood floor but the walls were painted a pale blue that I immediately adored. Large windows looked out to the bit of forest behind the house, reminding me again of Esme and Carlisle's house.

"Can I have this?" I asked in awe.

"That decides it doesn't it," Jake said with a laugh.

"I think it does," Nessie replied.

"Does this mean you're sold?" Linda asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

"Oh yeah. They're sold," I answered for them.

"Great! We'll break for lunch and then can you come to my office later this afternoon to do the paperwork?" Linda asked, pulling out her iPhone to make sure she was free.

"That works for us. We can be there around 2:30," Jake replied as we walked towards the door.

"See you at 2:30!" she said and made her way to a silver Lexus as we climbed into Jake's Rabbit.

"That house is perfect, Jake. I think I may have fallen in love all over again," Nessie gushed.

"I'll try not to get too jealous," he replied, leaning in to kiss her before starting the car. "I'm glad we got this house hunt over with." I thought we were going strait back to Edward and Bella's cottage for lunch, until Jake turned the car in the opposite direction.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To lunch," Nessie answered, not turning around so I wouldn't catch the smug expression that I knew was on her face. Now I was even more suspicious about where we were going. Luckily we stopped a minute later in front of another familiar house.

"No! Why didn't you tell me we were having lunch at Seth's?"

"We thought it would be more fun to see your reaction if it were a surprise," Jake replied as the car rolled to a stop.

"And it only took us two minutes to get here! That is officially the perfect house."

"Agreed," Nessie said. Seth had obviously seen us pull up because he was walking toward us as we were climbing out of the car.

"Hi, Liza," he said, lifting me off my feet to give me a bear hug. "Did you find the house yet?" he asked casually.

"Oh, we found the house all right!" I replied when he put me down at the door.

"You're kidding! That's awesome!" he said hugging me again once we were inside. "I was worried."

"And you were telling _me _not to worry."

"I was just afraid that after everything it would be too soon for you."

"Aw, Seth." Leah was the first person I saw when I entered the dining room. Everyone was crammed in the tiny space chatting. Billy was sitting at the table talking to Jake and Nessie and I made my way over to say hi. His age was wearing on him; his russet skin wrinkling but his personality was still young.

"There's my beautiful granddaughter! How are you Eliza?" he said with a smile.

"I'm doing great. What about you Grandpa?"

"Same as usual. Hungry for the fish fry that Sue's busy whipping up in the kitchen," he laughed and Nessie, Jake, and I joined.

"You're in luck, Billy," Sue said entering from the kitchen with a tray of fish and placing it on the table. Everyone grabbed a plate and started serving food. Seth, Leah, and I went into the kitchen to sit at the tiny table in there instead of overcrowding the dining room.

"Have you found any new music lately?" Seth asked.

"You could hardly count it as new, but I went on Edward's iTunes to listen to some Buddy Holly," I replied.

"Buddy Holly? Wasn't he killed in a plane crash?" Leah asked.

"Unfortunately, yes. Do you like him too?"

"I listen to him occasionally. I like more modern stuff."

"I know what you mean. But you can't deny the 50's. Without them Rock n' Roll wouldn't exist," I said.

"I'll have to listen to that," Seth replied, eating the last bite of his third piece of fish and taking our dirty plates to the sink. While we walked back into the dining room, Leah retreated to her bedroom.

"This was really nice, Sue. We'll have to get together again, but we have to go get going," Nessie was saying when we entered. Time really flew when I spent it with Seth, because it was only about 12:15 when we got there.

"We think we actually found the house so we're going to fill out the paperwork for it," Jake added.

"Congratulations!" Billy said, slapping Jake on the back and hugging Nessie and me. "You guys get going! We don't want you to be late." Seth walked with us to the car and wrapped me in his arms before I could sit down.

"You'll come back later, right?" He asked me, slightly pleading.

"Of course I will. I'd stay with you if I could, but I want to be there when they make the offer," I promised, looking into his smiling brown eyes.

"I'll be counting on that." He let go reluctantly and walked back to the house, waving before he closed the door behind him.

"You're in luck. The house is relatively new to the market and so far you are the first to make an offer. So here are the papers that you need to fill out." Linda put the paperwork in between Jake and Nessie on the table at the real estate office. She barely glanced at me, which bothered me a little, but I tried to tune that out with my iPod, which was now on a playlist of Buddy Holly songs.

Other than the music coming from my ear buds, the only sound was the scratching of pens on paper. A minute later they were finished and they slid the papers back to Linda. Nessie squeezed my hand optimistically and Jake looked my way to wink.

"Everything seems to be in order," Linda said, ruffling through the papers. "I'll give you a call when I get any word from them. Usually I won't get any news until the next day though, so it's best to just be patient and keep our fingers crossed."

"Thank you so much, Linda," Jake replied shaking her hand. We walked out of the bland office building to find that it had stopped raining. There was a bounce in my step because I was so excited about the house and I was going to see Seth. He was obviously as excited as I was because he was sitting on the front steps of his house when we pulled up.

"How was it?" he asked, opening the door for me. I wrapped my arms around him before answering.

"Boring. But the odds seem to be in our favor," I replied making my way to the door, but he caught my hand before I could walk any farther.

"We should go to the beach since it isn't raining anymore," he suggested

"Okay. We'll be at the beach, Ness and Jake, in case you didn't just hear." They nodded their consent and we walked the short way to First Beach. I held onto Seth's arm for balance and pulled off my converse and socks so I could walk barefoot.

The air was chilly for summer, but the absence of rain brought the temperature up a bit. A gentle breeze blew my hair as we walked on the pebbles covering the beach. They were in a wide array of colors and I crouched down to pick the best one and I attempted to skip it over the water.

"Here, Liza. Let me show you how it's done," Seth said, selecting a flat, grey stone and handing it to me. "It's similar to throwing a Frisbee because it's all in the wrist." He stood behind me, wrapping his arms around me and holding my hand to direct my throw. It only jumped once, but it was an improvement over the last time.

"Good!" I gave him a high five.

"It was okay. Now you try," I said reaching for another rock. His jumped three times before sinking. "How did you get so good at it?"

"I come here all the time," he shrugged.

"Let's keep walking," I suggested and I entwined my fingers in his.

"It's so quiet," Seth commented as we continued walking. First Beach was unusually empty for a moment without rain.

"Too quiet," I replied making a suspicious face to get us both laughing. "I'll race you to that tree over there," I said pointing to a tree about 50 meters away.

"You're on," he answered playfully.

"On your mark, get−" I took off running before I finished in hopes of winning, but it only took Seth a split second to react, and he was next to me before I knew it.

"You're silly for thinking that would work. It could even be considered cheating," he said, putting his arm in front of me so I couldn't pull ahead. We were almost at the tree, but Seth stayed next to me so we ended in a tie.

"Come on, Seth. You would have won if you didn't let us tie."

"But I didn't, Liza," he insisted.

"I definitely believe that," I said sarcastically.

"Look in my eyes, Eliza," he said bending down and putting his hands on my shoulders. "Am I lying when I say I didn't let us tie?" I looked into his brown eyes and didn't see any signs that he was lying, but I nodded my head any way.

"If you won't admit it the easy way, I guess I'm going to have to get it out of you some other way," he said, moving his hands down to the curve of my waist.

"Fine! I believe you and I'm sorry for doubting it!" I shouted before he could start tickling me.

"Thank you. That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Seth said, satisfied. "We should probably start heading back."

"But Seth, I'll have to leave if we go back," I whined, clutching his arm.

"We'll go _really_ slow." We had only gone a few steps when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. The screen showed that it was Nessie.

"Hi. What's up?" I said.

"Linda just called."

"You're kidding! I thought we would at least have to wait until tomorrow."

"The owner was quick to accept our offer."

"So you mean−"

"The house is ours, Liza!" What came out of my mouth next was an ecstatic sound that was a combination between a scream and a laugh.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe it!"

"Linda says we have to wait thirty days to move in, but that gives us time to pick out furniture," she said with happiness seeping through her voice.

"That just made my day," I replied, ignoring Seth's questioning look.

"It made mine, too. I'll see you soon."

"Love you," I said before hanging up and turning to Seth. "We got the house!" Suddenly Seth lifted me up and spun me around, smiling and genuinely happy about my good news. In the happiness of the moment, I did something impulsive that I had never thought to do before.

I kissed him.

For a second he was still with shock, but then his lips pressed slightly harder against mine, guiding mine, but not pushing it. His lips were warm and soft and even a bit sweet, making me hunger for more when he pulled back. It was a short kiss, but the air around us was all but shocking us with the electricity of it.

"That was my first kiss," I whispered when I caught my breath.

"What did you think?" he asked in an equally quiet voice.

"Perfect," I replied.

"I love you, Eliza," he said, pulling me in for a tight hug.

"I love you too, Seth," I replied again. "Let's go back. Nessie's expecting me to be back soon so we can tell everybody at Carlisle and Esme's the good news." And we ran back up the beach filled with thoughts of finally having a home.


	20. Moments in a Day

**Here it is…the long awaited Chapter 20! Sorry it took so long to get here but the point is there are 20 chapters and that is a major milestone. The reason I haven't been updating as fast is because I've been working on a story with my very good friend called ****Change of Heart****. It would really make us both happy if you read it (our penname is Grangers) Thank you for your awesome reviews and overall support! **

**-E**

**Chapter 20: Moments in a Day**

Alice's room was wedding central. Rows of mason jars covered the table with rolls of ribbon. Paper lanterns lined the glass wall and there were bags with candles and thicker ribbons.

"Whoa," I said mouth agape.

"It's incredible," Esme agreed, full of pride. We had offered to help Alice with wedding preparations today, even though I was against the idea. Bella, Rosalie, and Nessie followed us into the room.

"Alright, now I'm going to put you to work. We're going to take this silver ribbon and tie it around the rims of the jars," Alice demonstrated by tying a perfect bow around one of the jars. "And the we need to glue the candle in place inside the jar so it doesn't slide around after it's lit."

"You really _are_ putting us to work," Nessie commented.

"Well when Alice has a vision of what things need to look like, there's no stopping her," Bella said. We sat around the table either on the off-white sofa or on the floor and began tying ribbons.

"Nessie, how are things with the new house?" Esme asked, her fingers working blindingly fast and making perfect bows.

"Things are going well so far. Of course waiting to move in has been a bit of an issue for Eliza…" I rolled my eyes, though Nessie was right about my impatience. "We're still working on getting furniture, but that part is fun."

"I would love to help you find furniture since I don't have to do much for the wedding." Esme offered, gesturing toward Alice who was concentrating intently on the ribbon she was tying.

"That would be awesome! Thank you," Nessie replied.

"You really like the house don't you, Eliza," Bella said. I nodded with a smile.

"That's why I can't wait to move in. It has nothing to do with getting some separation from you guys for once," I said sarcastically and everyone laughed.

"Oh Eliza. Always the charmer," Alice said with an equal amount of sarcasm as she grabbed the bag of candles for us to put in the jars. In return I gave her a winning smile and then got back to work. A few minutes of diligently working, and I was already getting tired of silver bows and gluing candles to the bottoms of jars.

"Alice, how are we doing our hair for the wedding?" I asked to distract myself.

"Probably down with a little pinned to the side." Alice gently tugged on one of my ringlets and let it spring back into place. "I need to trim your hair first."

"No, you will not trim my hair," I said sliding away from her.

"You're acting like a child, Eliza. You will look so pretty. And I promise it will grow back quickly."

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Because you grew about half an inch since last week and if you're still growing then your hair will grow back." But I still wasn't sold.

"I'll make a deal with you. If you let me cut your hair, you don't have to help me anymore. You can go downstairs and call Seth to come over or do whatever you want," Alice offered.

"Ok, fine," I sighed. She knew that I wouldn't refuse that offer without her visions. Alice danced over to her oversized bathroom, dragging me by the hand. Within seconds, a huge collection of hairstyling paraphernalia was sitting on the counter.

"I don't like the looks of this…"

"Oh shush." Alice wet my hair and combed through the tangles quickly but gently. "I'm only taking off an inch and a half. Nothing fancy, but layers would make you look amazing…"

"Don't even think about it," I replied with my hands over my eyes. All I could hear was the scissors snipping away at my hair for a few minutes.

"What do you think?" Alice asked smugly.

"I love it," I sighed slightly annoyed. It didn't look that different, but Alice was right

"I shouldn't have to say 'I told you so', but I will. I told you so." I rolled my eyes as I headed down stairs and pulled out my phone to call Seth.

"Hello, Liza," he said after a single ring.

"Seth, can you come over now? Alice has just freed me of my bridesmaid duties."

"I'm on it. Can't wait to see you."

"Awesome! Love you, Seth."

"Love you, too."

"Bye!" I slid the phone back in my pocket and glanced over at Edward, who was sitting at the piano bench with a stack of music books.

"I'm picking songs to play at the wedding," he said, answering the question in my head. I looked through the pile, and every book was of classical music.

"This is it? You can't dance to classical music Edward. And what's a wedding without dancing? An un-fun wedding."

"It is completely possible to dance to classical music. People in the ballet do it all the time," he replied.

"Yes, but Esme's not going to wear point shoes and Carlisle's not going to wear tights. The whole point of dancing at a wedding is to celebrate and have a good time," I pointed out. "Taylor Swift has good songs." I handed him my iPod to listen to some songs, but he didn't look too convinced.

"I don't know…" he shook his head and I remembered that he wasn't fond of pop music so I went a more indie/alternative route.

"Ok, maybe Foster the People or Iron and Wine or Phoenix or Passion Pit…" By the time I had gotten through all of the songs, Edward seemed to have found at least one that he liked.

"I won't play all of them, but I'll play some," he decided.

"I can live with that." I moved to the couch and turned on the TV while I waited, flipping between reruns of two of my favorite shows. My mind wandered to Seth and our kiss yesterday. I kept replaying it in my head until the doorbell rang.

"How did I do on time?" Seth asked when I opened the door.

"Not bad, but I wanted you here sooner," I replied.

"Did you expect me to be waiting on the porch as soon as you hung up?"

"That's what I was hoping. But it doesn't matter because you're here now and I don't have to tie ribbons around mason jars anymore," I replied.

"I see how it is. You're using me." Seth raised an eyebrow.

"No! That's not it! Alice wanted to cut my hair for the wedding and I didn't want to. I only let her because she let me stop with the wedding stuff and invite you over," I rushed to explain.

"Eliza, I was kidding. And I love the new haircut," he said, pulling me into a bear hug.

"Thank you." We were subconsciously walking toward the kitchen.

"Oh, hey Edward," Seth said as we walked by him. My smile was smug that Seth was too focused on me to notice anything else.

"Hello, Seth," Edward replied.

"What's this?" Seth asked eyeing the stack of sheet music and piano books.

"I'm selecting the music I'm going to play at the wedding."

"Ah…" Seth paused in thought. I stared at him with curiosity, but he didn't say anything.

"Because we still feel in debt to you for protecting Bella and Renesmee from the Volturi. Though we can never fully repay you, Esme thought that inviting you to the wedding would be a great way to show our appreciation." Edward answered Seth's unspoken question.

"It's still hard to believe that we're friends with bloodsuckers," Seth laughed. "But, It's definitely for the better," he looked at me with his eyes filled with adoration.

"Agreed. I apologize for being rude, but I need to step out." Edward disappeared and Seth and I continued to the kitchen.

"Are you hungry?" I asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

"Sure." I climbed up onto the counter to reach the cabinet and grabbed a box of crackers from inside.

"I would have gotten that for you," Seth remarked wrapping his arms around my waist and lifting me off the counter.

"Yeah but I wanted to keep my dignity," I replied as Seth, still carrying me, walked over to the dining room table.

"You're not short, Eliza. I'm just really tall," he reassured, but I shook my head as I walked to the kitchen to get water and a bowl of grapes. He popped a cracker in his mouth.

"So what were you thinking earlier?" I asked when I was done chewing.

"We've all been wondering why we were invited to the wedding, since we're wolves and all. Even with the treaty it's weird that we get along so well," he answered. I nodded in understanding and popped a grape into my mouth. We ate quietly except for the sound of our chewing for a minute.

"What are you thinking about?" Seth asked.

"Oh you know…yesterday," I admitted, knowing that Seth would know what I was talking about.

"I can always give a repeat performance," he grinned.

"Yes please." My heart fluttered as he leaned in to press his lips to mine. This kiss lasted longer than our first one, but I still would have liked to have more.

"That was nice," he grinned, slightly breathless.

"That's an understatement," I replied. We went into the living room after our snack, but we weren't alone anymore because the wedding decorations were finished. For the rest of the afternoon we just hung around the house until it was close to dinnertime.

"I wish you could stay longer," I complained as we walked toward the door.

"Me too, but my mom and Leah are expecting me home for dinner before I have to patrol tonight," Seth replied.

"This will be much easier when we move into our new house." I wrapped my arms around him.

"I for one can't wait to have you close to home again," he said, rubbing my back. "See you tomorrow."

"I'll be counting down the minutes," I answered as he walked out the door. I turned around and Nessie was on her phone with Jake by the sound of it.

"Let's go. Jake's already at Bella and Edwards house waiting for us to get dinner ready," she said after hanging up.

"Alright," I said and I followed her to the cottage for a quiet dinner and then I went to bed.

Grey light shone in through the window of the cottage and forced my eyes to open. I got up to dress in jeans and a t-shirt and skipped to the kitchen where Jake stood at the counter, pouring a bowl of cereal.

"Hey, Where's Nessie?" I asked, grabbing a bowl for myself.

"She's still sleeping," he replied with a mouthful of cereal.

"She doesn't usually sleep this late…" I brought my bowl to the table and sat down next to Jake.

"Let's just let her sleep. She can wake up when she's ready." His voice was calm but there was a glimmer of worry in his eyes.

"I never got to ask about your day yesterday, so how was it?" I asked to change the subject.

"Same old, same old. I was at the garage until a little after lunch and then I left Anthony in charge while I ran patrol. And then I came home."

"Exciting," I said.

"Oh yes, very," he mimicked my tone of voice. We both paused to take a bite of cereal when we heard the bedroom door opening. Nessie walked over to us, still in her pajamas and looking unusually pale and tired. Jake stood up immediately to put his arm around her waist to help her to the table.

"Nessie, are you okay?" I asked her.

"I think I'm sick," she replied, putting her head down on the table. "Jacob, can you please make me a cup of tea?"

"Of course, love," he replied standing up to get a teakettle.

"Alice is going to kill me," Nessie whispered and I nodded my head in pitied agreement.


	21. A Day Off

**I'll keep the apologies to a minimum here in regards to how long it took me to write this chapter. I really am sorry. People shouldn't waste so much time on the Internet because there is a whole world full of stuff to do. That said, enjoy reading this story **_**online**_** and please do me the favor of reading the story I co-wrote called ****Change of Heart**** under the penname Grangers.**

**-E**

**Chapter 21: A Day Off**

Jacob placed a mug of tea in front of Nessie and she lifted her head feebly to thank him and take a sip. I could tell by looking at her that she was sick. Her skin was extra pale and there were circles under her eyes. It wasn't often that Nessie got sick with her extra-tough immune system that came with her being part vampire, but when Nessie go sick, she got _really_ sick.

I quietly stepped out of the room to let Jake and Nessie figure out what to do. There was no way I was going to do more wedding stuff but Jake would leave Nessie's side and drive me to La Push. If I was lucky, Seth's patrol wouldn't have lasted long and he would be awake by now.

My phone sat on the bedside table and I reached for it so I could text Seth to ask if he was awake. Usually he was quick to respond to my texts, but my phone didn't buzz. How was I supposed to kill the time until he woke up? I wandered over to the closet to leaf through clothes that weren't actually mine.

Alice had stocked the racks with clothes of many different sizes so no matter how fast Nessie grew there would always be clothes for her. How she had managed to stockpile so much clothing with no doubles was beyond me. There was nothing of interest at the moment, so I walked back to the living room.

"Nessie did you know that you had this—Oh hey Carlisle," I said. Carlisle was in the middle of talking to Nessie and Jake, but he paused to say hello. "What's going on?"

"Based on the symptoms, I think Nessie has the flu," he informed me. "I don't have any with me, but there is a medicine we could try, though it may not have an effect on you."

"It's worth a shot," Jake answered for her.

"I'll have to pick some up from the pharmacy then." They could probably see the light bulb over my head when I realized that this was my ticket to La Push. And my ticket to Seth.

"Could I come with you, Carlisle?" I pleaded.

"I don't see why not." Step one complete.

"You should take her to La Push afterwards," Nessie added with a covert wink in my direction. "If you don't mind of course."

"Not at all," Carlisle replied.

"You should drop her off at Emily's. Seth's probably still out cold after patrol last night," Jake said.

"Yeah, he is." Jake stared at me. "What? I texted him and he didn't answer. Common sense tells me that he's not awake yet."

"This flu isn't going to cure itself," Nessie interjected. "Liza, please put some shoes on before you leave."

"Got it, chief." My Converse were on the floor in the bedroom and slid them on. I dashed back out while sliding my phone in my pocket.

"Alright Eliza, let's go. If the symptoms get worse call me right away, though I'm sure you'll be fine," Carlisle said, ushering me toward the door.

"Thank you, Carlisle," Jake called back as we stepped through the door and into the forest. Carlisle carried me while he sped through the forest so the trip would be shorter. Within five minutes we were stepping through the door to the garage to find Alice sitting on the hood of Carlisle's Mercedes.

"Unfortunately Alice, both Nessie and Eliza will be unable to help you with the wedding today. Nessie has come down with the flu and I'm taking Eliza to La Push now," Carlisle explained before Alice could get in a word. Ten different emotions flashed across her face and settled on a combination of annoyance and disappointment.

"There's no use in me arguing with you," she said after a moment. "Tell Nessie I hope she feels better, but I will at least be expecting you to come tomorrow, Liza." She disappeared into the house to fast for me to notice her leave. Carlisle opened the passenger door for me and we drove into town to stop at the pharmacy.

I sat in the car while Carlisle got Nessie's flu medicine. It only took Carlisle a few minutes to return to the car with a small plastic bag. Our next stop was La Push.

"I haven't really talked to you in a while," I said when he started the ignition.

"No, we haven't. We've just been so busy as of late. Alice is such a perfectionist with the vow renewal, which is a bit funny since it's not even hers," he chuckled.

"I bet you're excited."

"Yes. I love Esme so much and I'm glad to remind her of that." I smiled at the sweetness of that statement. By this time we were at the boundary line for La Push.

"You're driving past the boundary line?" I asked.

"I can't make you walk the whole way. Sam and I have an agreement," he replied as we drove through the reservation. Only the fact that Seth was asleep and I would be at Sam and Emily's prevented me from seeing Seth, and I was thrilled. We were in front of the tiny house now, and Carlisle opened the car door for me.

I skipped up to the door and only had to knock once before Sam pulled the door open. He nodded toward Carlisle before turning to me.

"Come on in, Eliza."

"Thank you so much for letting me hang out here today," I said.

"Anything to help my brother," he replied, referring to Jake. Emily stood at the counter of the tiny kitchen, assembling a multitude of sandwiches.

"Hi, Eliza." She turned from her work to give me a hug.

"What are the sandwiches for?"

"We're having a picnic on the beach to celebrate the news," she replied with a huge grin on her face.

"Awesome—wait what news?" I pressed, glancing from Emily to Sam.

"I'm going to be a father," Sam answered, looking happier than I'd seen him in a long time.

"Oh my gosh! Congratulations!" I exclaimed hugging them both. "Not to be rude, but it's about time."

"I won't argue with that." Emily jokingly elbowed Sam for that comment.

"We knew for a while, but we've been keeping it as much of a surprise as we can," Emily said. Sam laughed at the notion of keeping something a surprise in the pack. "The guys were all sworn to secrecy until today." Emily began packing the sandwiches into large containers to take with us to the beach.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" I asked her.

"Yes there is. Could you go to the linen closet and get the usual picnic blanket?" I nodded and proceeded up the stairs to the tiny linen closet. Of course, the blanket I was looking for was just out of reach, so I kicked off my shoes and stood on a stack of towels to pull it off the shelf. I was about to bring the blanket down to Emily when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

The blanket fell from my hands as I rushed to pull it out to read the text from Seth. _I'm awake. Is everything okay, Liza?_

My reply: _Nessie's sick. But otherwise all is well. Are you going to the picnic?_ It took only a moment for him to respond.

_Tell her I hope she feels better. And I am going to the picnic. How do you know about that?_

_I'm at Sam and Emily's house helping them get the food together because I'm going too. :)_ I wished I could be there to see his reaction to that text, but his response was all I got.

_You should have seen the happy dance I just did. Well, probably not because I'm a bad dancer. Now you get back to helping Emily so I can see you sooner. I love you._

_I love you too, Seth,_ I typed. I picked the blanket up off the floor and ran back down the stairs. The sooner I could see Seth the better. When I got to the foot of the stairs, Sam and Emily were kissing, obviously taking advantage of their time alone.

"Hi, guys," I said, interrupting their moment. They looked startled, as if they forgot I was in their house before that moment.

"Sorry," Sam said with a laugh. It looked as though the sandwiches were packed and ready.

"Thank you, Eliza," Emily said, taking the blanket from my arms. "We're ready to go now." Sam picked up the sandwiches and a cooler full of drinks and left only the blanket for Emily to carry.

"Do you want me to carry anything for you?" I offered.

"Are you sure, Eliza? This might be heavy for you," Sam answered. I rolled my eyes and imagined the container of sandwiches hovering just above where Sam had previously been holding it and when I looked back, it really was hovering.

"I think I got it." He threw a quick glance at me, but he knew it wasn't his place and let me continued to walk. We were the first ones at the beach, and Emily quickly spread the blanket onto the sand. There was no rain and the air was warm enough, though there was the slight chill that always came with cloudy days, as perfect as the weather could get for a picnic on the Olympic Peninsula.

We had a few moments of calm before a football flew through the air above my head and Sam stood to make a perfect catch. In his moment of victory, he didn't notice that Jared was barreling toward him at top speed, going for the tackle. Embry jogged over to high five Jared for their teamwork. Kim walked over next, and went straight to congratulate Emily on her pregnancy

As the others started coming, I found myself staring intently in the direction of Seth's house. Rachel walked over to give me a hug and ask me where Jake was.

"Nessie is sick so Jake stayed home with her," I replied. But I missed her response because one glance over my shoulder revealed what I had been waiting all day for. Seth quickened his pace when he saw me and soon I was in his arms.

"I'm so happy to see you," he said, sneaking in a kiss next to my left ear. A huge smile was my reply. Sandwiches were already being passed around and Leah had thought to bring about ten huge bags of chips. We sat on the blanket and started eating, or inhaling in the case of the wolves.

"Before we continue, I think we need to have a toast to Sam and Emily on their baby who they are most definitely going to name Paul regardless of the gender," Paul said, lifting his soda.

"No way," Sam replied through a chorus of "cheers".

"That's 'cause they're going to name the baby Eliza," I spoke directly to Paul, making a face at him in the process.

"In your dreams, kid," he countered.

"You two are both children," Emily laughed.

"At least for me that wasn't an insult," I stuck out my tongue at Paul. Every sandwich was devoured within ten minutes and we sat basking in that quiet minute of full stomachs. I leaned against Seth and he stroked my hair as we listened to the other conversations.

"Football?" Quil asked after a minute. The pack collectively nodded in agreement. "Ladies, if any of you want to play, we'll switch to touch football."

"I'll pass," Leah replied a little bitterly.

"So will I," Kim and Rachel said at the same time. They laughed at the coincidence.

"I'm game," I said standing up. When they were playing fair, a game of touch football with the pack could be a lot of fun.

"Awesome," Quil mussed my hair. "I believe Collin and I are captains for this game."

"I'll take first pick," Collin said, immediately gesturing for Brady to join him.

"To be nice, I'll do ladies first and pick Liza." I thanked Quil with a grin.

"Paul."

"Embry."

"Seth. Sorry Liza." Collin worriedly glanced at me, hoping I wouldn't be too angry that Seth wasn't on my team.

"I'm fine, Collin," I assured him.

"Back to picking teams. Sam," Quil said.

"Since you took Eliza, I'll give you Jared," Collin finished, pulling a quarter out of his pocket. Quil called heads, but the coin landed on tails so we were going to be defense first. We formed a huddle to figure out whom we'd each be defending.

"I'll take Paul, Sam take Collin, Embry cover Brady, and Jared you should cover Seth—"

"No fair!" I interrupted Quil. "If I get Seth I swear on my life I won't let him get past."

"Fine. But Jared keep an eye on her and I could also use help with Paul."

"No problem," Jared said. Before we could begin Sam stepped forward and turned on his alpha voice.

"This is TOUCH football, so any tackling and there will be serious consequences. Understand?" We nodded our assent and got ready for kickoff. I tried to avoid Seth's gaze as the ball flew threw the air and was caught by Brady.

Jared urged me to start running toward Seth, but we weren't needed there. Brady was already halfway across our designated football field, skillfully dodging the guys on my team. Finally, Embry was able to tag him, but the other team was incredibly close to the end zone.

"That was awesome, Brady," the guys on the other team congratulated him. Quil just shook his head and assured us that we would make up for it and whip their sorry butts later. We assembled at the line of scrimmage for the next play. Seth smiled at me before Collin could shout, "hike" and I smiled back with a bit of laughter playing at the corners of my lips.

Again, I ran, this time I was right in front of Seth, making it clear that Seth would get tagged as soon as he caught the ball. He was incredibly fast, dodging me easily before effortlessly catching the ball. He didn't even make it a full yard before I tagged him.

"Really, Liza?" There was annoyance in his voice but he was smiling.

"Yes, really," I giggled getting ready for the next play. Collin's team scored the first touchdown, but we were ready at kickoff and gained about 35 yards. By second down, we were 25 yards from the end zone and I was the only one on my team open when the play began.

Silently, I prayed that I would catch the ball as it flew, landing in my arms. I dashed the remaining distance with Seth and Paul on my tail and I made the touchdown a second before Seth grabbed me around the waist in a failed attempt to stop me.

"Touchdown!" Sam called.

"In your face!" I laughed at Seth, kissing his cheek before he let me go. The members of my team high-fived me with.

"It's a good thing you picked Liza for our team, Quil," Embry said.

"If Jake were here, he'd be so proud of you." Quil patted me on the back. We continued to play for another twenty-five minutes and our team was up by one touchdown, but I was getting tired. Before we kicked off to Collin's team I told Quil that I was done and jogged back to the picnic blanket. Emily handed me a water bottle and I started gulping it down.

"You were great out there," Rachel complimented me. I thanked her in between gulps.

"You guys should play next time. We could do girls vs. guys and we could potentially kick butt," I suggested.

"That's wishful thinking." Seth was standing behind me. I hadn't noticed him leave the game.

"I don't know about that Seth," Leah said. "We're better at football than you think, Eliza being a prime example." That got the rest of the wolf girls talking, already planning for the game. I held my arms out to Seth, and he pulled me up from my seated position.

"Be careful you two," Emily warned as we started walking down the beach. When we were out of earshot, he pulled me to his chest, almost crushing me, but not quite.

"Things will be back to normal soon," he said.

"I can't wait," I replied. "I'm tired of everything happening at once."

"When things calm down, I'll spend every moment I can with you." Seth's eyes bore into my own with an incredible amount of love and admiration.

"Promise?"

"I swear on my life." And we sealed it with a kiss.


	22. The Art of Keeping Promises

**I have some exciting news for you! I have just posted a new fanfiction that's called ****Tigers in the Forest**** and I would love for you to check it out! It is pretty different from what I have been writing, but I am very confident about the idea. Also, I never remember to tell you how much you're reviews mean to me. Thanks for all of your support!**

**-E**

**Chapter 22: The Art of Keeping Promises**

I found it very unfair that I had to help Alice prepare for the vow renewal while Seth was at the cottage looking after Nessie. Jake argued that he absolutely had to go back to work because he had a big project he was working on, and I had made a promise to Alice the day before. So there I sat on the small couch in Alice's room while she retrieved my bridesmaids dress from her enormous closet for a final fitting. She danced back into the room with a garment bag slung over one arm and my shoes in hand and handed it to me.

"I'll give you some privacy while you change," she said excitedly. I waited until she had left the room to unzip the garment bag to reveal the pale pink dress. A small "wow" escaped my lips as I admired the one-shouldered number with flowers on the strap. I did a quick change and slid on the shoes that were gorgeous and made me feel tall, but were going to kill my feet if I didn't fall over in them first.

"I'm ready," I called and Alice came back into the room. The grin on her face was contagious.

"You look absolutely stunning, Liza." She tied the dress in the back. "And it fits perfectly!"

"Thank you, Alice. I absolutely love this dress," I said twirling around in it and enjoying the sound of the heels clicking on the hardwood floor.

"Seth is going to go crazy for this." My cheeks turned bright red. She pulled me in for a quick hug before she left the room again so I could change back into regular clothes.

"I'm starting to get really excited about this wedding. It's actually my first one," I stepped out of the room to tell Alice.

"That's not true. You went to your Aunt Rachel and Paul's wedding," she corrected me.

"That doesn't count. I was so little that the only things I remember are wearing a pretty dress and sitting in Grandpa Billy's lap while Jake and Nessie danced." That day could have been more than five years ago, but it felt so distant from that moment. "So what's next on the to do list?"

"Most of the stuff has to get done tomorrow before the ceremony starts, but now I need you to shave," she said, pulling out a razor and holding it out to me.

"Are you kidding, Alice? You're making me _shave?_" I cried with annoyance.

"Of course I am. I want you to look perfect tomorrow, so hop to it." I grumbled about how ridiculous Alice's request was as I grabbed a towel from the linen closet and started warming up the water. But that was Alice: always the perfectionist. Since I was already going to be in the shower, I figured that I would wash my hair before I got to shaving.

The warm water felt good, and I couldn't help but sing since singing in the shower was a habit of mine that I refused to break. It took me a good fifteen minutes to finish my shower and afterwards I felt refreshed. My hair was still wet when I walked into the living room where Alice was talking to Edward by the piano

"Talking music?" I asked.

"Yes. For the reception I'm using mp3s but for the ceremony I was going to use the piano and Alice was asking about using other instruments. I was about to go get some from the attic," Edward explained. Oddly, I had been in almost every room in the house, but I had never been in the attic. Before then I didn't even know that the house had an attic at all. Edward stood up from his seat on the piano bench and Bella and I followed him up the stairs, curiosity about the mysterious attic getting the best of me.

"Edward, how come I've never been in the attic before?" Bella asked.

"There usually isn't much need. I only go there myself when you're hunting on your own or doing something else so I don't go too insane without you with me," he replied. Bella kissed him on the cheek. It was almost like he imprinted on her, their love was so strong. At the top of the fourth flight of stairs we climbed, Edward opened the door to a slightly musty room with wooden walls and an amazing collection of instruments.

"This is incredible!" I exclaimed. It felt like I was in heaven as I moved my hands over a guitar. There were classical instruments as well as rock and roll instruments and I had to process it all for a moment before I picked up a ukulele and started strumming chords.

"And you can play all of these?" Bella asked in amazement.

"I can play enough of each, though the piano remains my favorite instrument to play," he responded.

"But Edward, if we decided to move, what would you do with all of this?"

"Some things, like the ukulele and the violin are small enough to carry with, but the rest we could use a moving truck for. But I wouldn't leave anything behind."

While this exchange was going on, I explored some more, plucking notes on every string and blowing into the woodwind instruments. Along the walls were shelves upon shelves of sheet music and I gravitated toward a section labeled "Eliza".

The section held every song I had sung in the school chorus, every piano book I had worked through or skipped through due to my impatient and my lack of motivation to practice, and any other music that I had expressed interest to learn. A smile spread across my face when I started singing some of the songs to myself.

"I can't believe that you saved all of this for me," I said to Edward.

"Unlike your mother, who, to her credit, does have an appreciation for music, you have a desire to make music. That's what motivated me to save this music and I knew that each piece would be special for you," he replied.

I threw my arms around him and said, "You're the best oddly under-aged grandfather to ever walk the earth."

"I'm not as under-aged as you think, Liza." He kissed the top of my head.

"Well you look it, and we all know that appearances are the most important thing," I said with a touch of sarcasm. Edward rolled his eyes, and turned to walk back down the stairs.

"The piano would be best fit for the event," Edward told Alice when we were back in the living room.

"Yes, I thought so, but I wanted to make sure," she replied. "Now Eliza, most of the things that need to get done are for tomorrow, so I suppose you can go back to the cottage and eat lunch."

"Awesome!" I said, excitement dripping from my voice. I hadn't expected to be able to go home until dinnertime but now I had the entire afternoon to spend with Seth. Alice ran me through the forest after I said my farewells.

"I'll call you if anything else comes up, but I don't see anything happening as of now," she said before sending me off.

"Thanks Alice!" I hugged her and then burst through the door to find Nessie sitting up on the couch watching "How I Met Your Mother".

"Hi Nessie!" I greeted her cheerily blowing her a kiss so I wouldn't get sick.

"Hey, Liza. Alice let you off the hook early? That's unlike her." She still sounded a bit hoarse, but she sounded infinitely better than yesterday.

"Yeah, most of the stuff can't get done until tomorrow. Are you feeling any better?"

"Definitely. And thank you for suggesting this show, Liza. It's hilarious!" She gestured toward the screen and I looked up just in time to see Marshall slap Barney in the face and we cracked up.

"What's so funny?" Seth asked, coming into the room from the direction of the bedroom, Nessie's laptop in his hand.

"How I Met Your Mother," I told him as he enveloped me with a hug.

"I thought I wasn't going to see you until later," he said as he handed the laptop to Nessie.

"Luckily, Alice didn't have any other forms of torture planned for me, so she sent me here for lunch. What do you guys want?" I made my way to the kitchen to peer into the fridge for ingredients.

"Just make grilled cheese, Liza," Nessie suggested so I pulled out bread, butter, and cheese. While the butter softened, I pulled out some tomatoes from the fridge and started slicing them.

"So what'd you do at the Cullen cave?" Seth asked. I giggled before answering. I told him about the wedding stuff and about the incredible attic.

"It was like a music store, Seth, but it had all of _my _music. That room could keep me occupied for hours," I gushed as I assembled the sandwiches and threw them into the pan. From the look in Seth's eyes, I could tell that my happiness was his favorite thing in the world, and then he kissed me, softly and sweetly. He broke away only when we could smell the sandwiches about to burn if I didn't flip them. When I pulled them off the burner and onto a serving plate, Nessie stood up to walk to the table, though Seth insisted that she stay on the couch.

"Seth, I'm fine. I know Jake told you to be extra careful, but that isn't necessary," Nessie argued.

"Actually, he made me promise to do whatever you say, so that won't be an issue," Seth corrected her.

"So what did you guys do?" I asked him when we were all seated at the table ravenously eating our sandwiches.

"Mostly just hung around. Nessie was pretty low-maintenance," he replied, his mouth filled with toasted bread and gooey cheese.

"I don't know how you ended up so high-maintenance, Eliza, if I was so easygoing" Nessie joked. "But Seth did a great job. You'll be in good hands with him someday." Seth beamed. There was no doubt in my mind that when I was old enough, Seth would propose to me, and Nessie knew that I'd say yes.

"This grilled cheese is fantastic," Seth said grabbing his third sandwich. "It's even better than my mom's or Leah's, and they make some really good grilled cheese."

"Aw thanks! I make it pretty often, so I've figured out how to perfect it," I replied with a smile. When we were finished eating, Nessie retreated to her room to take a nap.

"There's ice cream in the freezer if you want it. Be good you two," she called to us before closing her door.

"I need to give Jake an update on how Nessie's doing, but after that we can do whatever you want," Seth promised. While he was dialing, I tried to think of something fun to do. Then I thought of the cans of whipped cream in the fridge. At a party once, I had played a game where you could use only your face to get a piece of gum from a bowl full of whipped cream and blow a bubble.

I half-listened to Seth's phone conversation while I found bowls and started filling them with whipped cream. From the sound of it, Jake was worried about Nessie and Seth was trying to reassure him. I slipped a piece of gum into each bowl before he hung up.

"What's this?" Seth asked when I set a bowl down in front of him, so I explained the game to him. He nodded in understanding.

"And it's a race so whoever can get the gum and blow a bubble first, wins. And no cheating."

"What makes you think I would cheat?"

"Just a hunch. We'll start on 'three'. One, two…" Before I reached three, I dove into the bowl of whipped cream.

"Whoa! Cheater!" Seth exclaimed before diving into his bowl too. By the time I got the gum and pulled my face out of the bowl to blow a bubble, Seth was chewing away. I tried to pick up the pace, but it was too late because Seth had blown a huge bubble.

"That's what you get for cheating, Liza," Seth said licking the whipped cream off his lips. He looked pretty silly with whipped cream all over his mouth and nose, but at the same time, he looked really adorable.

"You have whipped cream all over your face," I laughed, grabbing a napkin to help him clean up.

"So do you," he replied while he wiped whipped cream off my face. Times like these reminded me why I loved Seth so much. He had endless energy like me, and was willing to try anything. We spent the rest of the day hanging around the cottage. I had wanted to go outside, but it was raining too hard and we had to stay inside with Nessie. At 6:15, Jake pushed open the door to find us all sitting on the couch, Nessie with her arms around her knees and me snuggled up against Seth, watching more episodes of "How I Met Your Mother".

"I brought pizza," Jake announced as he set the stack of pizza boxes he was holding on the table. He promptly kissed Nessie's forehead and asked for a full report on her day. I blocked most of it out to focus on the TV, but I did catch Nessie saying how sweet Seth was, and I squeezed his hand with pride.

"Do you want to stay for dinner, Seth? I already called Sue and she's fine with it. Really it's the least I can do to repay you for taking care of my Nessie for me," Jake said earnestly

"Thanks Jake. I would love to," Seth replied, smiling down at me. We gathered around the table, and like any meal that involved any members of the pack, the food disappeared quickly. It almost felt like I was at home, but the actual building wasn't where my home was. We wouldn't be able to move into our new house for at least a week and I was counting down the days to not having to run through a forest to be able to go anywhere else.

"Well now that you've fattened me up, I should probably get going and run my patrols," Seth said when we were finished.

"No!" I whined.

"I'm sorry, Liza. But I'll see you tomorrow at the vow-renewal thing. We're coming by the way." My heart lifted a little at that.

"Alright," I sighed and I got up to walk him to the door. When Jake and Nessie weren't watching, he placed a kiss on my forehead and whispered a soft "I love you".

"Bye. I love you too," I said as he walked through the door.

"You better get to bed, Eliza. Alice will have you're head if you look tired tomorrow," Nessie said when I got back to the table.

"She better not," Jake growled. We giggled at his natural protective instincts.

"You do have a point. So goodnight, I love you both, and Nessie please feel better," I said. We exchanged hugs and goodnights and I returned to Nessie's old room to get some sleep. My excitement for the vow-renewal kept me awake a little longer than I would have liked, but I eventually drifted into a peaceful sleep.


	23. I Will

**Hello! Thank you for hanging in there so long for me to finish this chapter! I have been very busy, but now I am proud to present the long awaited vow renewal chapter! And yes, the chapter title is from the Beatles' song, which is worth listening to. Thank you for all of your comments and favorites and whatnot. Happy Reading!**

**Chapter 23: I Will**

I couldn't see much from my place at the top off the stairs, but I knew that Edward was at the piano, playing background music while Alice greeted guests as they filed through the door. Esme stood behind me looking like an old Hollywood starlet with her caramel hair in waves with the veil flowing down to meet the hem of her vintage-inspired dress. I could just pick out Seth's voice from below, laughing and chatting with Jake, who had come with the rest of the pack, though Nessie was a bridesmaid like me.

"Don't go without your bouquets." Alice appeared next to us with a small collection of white bouquets for each of us, the largest one going to Esme. "The boys should be entering now." The music downstairs changed into a song that I knew to be Esme's favorite of Edward's compositions.

"Thank you, all of you," Esme whispered right before Alice urged Rosalie to start walking down the stairs. Nessie followed after a moment, then it was my turn. I wobbled a little in my heels, but once I hit the bottom, it was a smooth walk to the end of the aisle to stand next to Nessie. My eyes went straight to Seth with a smile on his face and a mesmerized look in his eyes.

_You look stunning._ He mouthed.

_Well, you know…_ I mouthed back tossing my hair slightly. He tried to stifle a laugh. We were pulled from our silent conversation when Esme descended the stairs. It was hard to see, being that a bunch of tall people were standing up in front of me, but I don't think Esme ever looked more beautiful; or more happy. Carlisle took her hands in his and they stood in front of the officiant.

"Before Carlisle and Esme, I would never have officiated a wedding. But with a love as strong and as far-reaching as theirs, I figured that I could make an exception," he began. Alice had told me that he was Eleazar from the Denali coven. He was an eloquent speaker and definitely not like any traditional officiant, but the personal and non-traditional touches were perfect for the occasion. I tuned in and out a little until he got to the actual vows.

"Will you, Esme continue to have Carlisle as your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?" Eleazar asked.

"I do," Esme said with a huge smile on her face.

"And will you, Carlisle continue to have Esme as your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Carlisle declared.

"Now, by the power vested in me, you are still husband and wife. Carlisle you may now kiss your bride."

The grins on their faces only left when Carlisle leaned in to kiss Esme. It was a modest kiss, yet the love in it was unmistakable. Everybody burst into applause, and the formality of the wedding shattered immediately and everyone started talking. When I looked over, Seth gestured for me to join him and I started heading in his direction when a cold hand grabbed my own.

"Not so fast, Liza. I have to take pictures before the reception." Alice had caught me.

"Can't you do the ones with just Carlisle and Esme first and just come get me when you're ready to do the group shots?" I begged.

"Fine. Now go socialize while you can," Alice said, giving me a light push in Seth's direction. He was waiting for me by his seat, tapping his wrist jokingly to tell me to hurry up.

"You look amazing," he said when I approached him.

"Oh, stop. You look rather dashing yourself. You should wear suits more often," I replied.

"For you, anything. But suit wearing is not the most convenient for phasing." We laughed and waled out the door to find the back yard turned into a perfect reception space. All of the decorations that we had worked on were perfectly placed, along with flowers and a small dance floor with speakers in the corners, now playing soft classical music.

"Geez. Alice did this by her self?" Seth asked.

"Pretty much." I scoured the yard for her and found her in a corner taking pictures of Carlisle and Esme. Everyone else was either sitting at tables of picking at the delicious-looking food. "She is like the god of party planning who specializes in weddings."

All of the pack and their imprints were sitting at two tables, but Jake was standing behind Nessie who was talking to the Denalis who were standing far away from the pack. Nessie gestured for me to join her, so I left Seth for a moment to see what she wanted.

"Eliza, this is Tanya, Kate, Carmen, Garrett, and Eleazar. I met them when I was really young—well you know the story."

"It's so nice to meet you!" Tanya said, opening her arms to hug me.

"I almost thought that you were Nessie when I first saw you, but you have your father's smile and his eyes," Kate added.

"It's nice to finally get to put names to faces," I replied.

"Nessie, it's so hard to believe that you've grown so much and you have a child!" Carmen said.

"Well I did grow pretty fast. But Eliza grows a little bit slower than I did. She's also not as soft-spoken or obedient as I was," Nessie responded.

"I'm sure she's just as sweet as you are," Tanya said.

"Sometimes." I rolled my eyes. "I'm kidding, Eliza. You are," she clarified, mussing my hair.

"I'm going to go back over to Seth before Alice makes us take pictures. It was really nice meeting you all," I said and I walked over to where the La Push crowd was sitting and of course, gorging on wedding food. From behind Seth, I stole a mini quiche off of his plate.

"Hey!" he exclaimed in annoyance.

"It's just me," I reassured. "And these are _good_." He pulled me on to his lap and didn't complain when I reached for a second mini quiche.

"Eliza, I can't get over how beautiful and grown up you look," Emily said to me.

"Thanks, Em! You also look fantastic. How's the pregnancy going?" There was an audible groan from the pack. "What?"

"That is all Sam thinks about now," Embry said.

"Seriously. I can only take so much baby talk in a day and Sam and Emily already reached that quota," Jared added.

"That is not true," Sam defended himself.

"Calm down, Sam. They're exaggerating," Emily soothed. "But anyway Liza, it's going well. There's some morning sickness, but that's a good sign."

"If you need pretzels or ginger ale I could get some for you," I replied.

"You're so sweet, but I'll be fine."

"So anyway, are you guys excited to dance?" I asked the pack.

"Yeah, no," Brady said.

"There's no way I'm dancing," Paul chimed in.

"Eliza, that shouldn't have been your expectation. You know that we don't dance," Quil explained.

"But you can't not dance at a wedding!" I complained.

"I'll dance with you, Liza, but they're just going to be difficult," Seth said. I was about to say something else, but I heard Alice call my name.

"I'll be back guys and I _will _get you to dance," I assured, jumping off of Seth's lap and walking over to where Alice was taking pictures.

"Alright, we're doing bridesmaid pictures now, so Liza you stand there…" Alice immediately began directing the pictures. She had Jasper behind the camera for the first set of pictures and he spent two minutes snapping photos of us in different poses.

"Alice, I think I have enough," Jasper said. Alice flitted over to look over his shoulder and look at the pictures on the tiny screen.

"They're perfect!" she gushed, kissing his cheek. So much love is expressed at weddings. We then moved on to full wedding party pictures and some more small group pictures, which seemed to take forever and just when I thought I was done, Alice pulled me aside to do individual pictures of me.

"You're kidding me, Alice. I don't want to take anymore pictures," I complained.

"Yes, but you're going to grow and in the future you will want to see how beautiful you look today," she said as she snapped pictures. "Smile please, Eliza." That, of course, made me do the opposite by making a disgusted face at the camera. Alice laughed and then told me to actually smile, and this time I did. When we were done, I caught a glimpse at the pictures and I had to admit that I looked beautiful.

When I got back to my seat, Edward was at the computer to change the song. He announced the usual, "Carlisle and Esme are going to share their first dance as a newly married couple." A song that I didn't recognize came through the speakers, and Carlisle and Esme gracefully twirled around the dance floor. It felt slightly like I was intruding on their moment due to how in love they looked, even after how long they had already been married. At the end of the song more danceable music came on and the dance floor was officially open.

"Do you want to dance?" Seth asked. I nodded excitedly and I pulled him toward the dance floor, forgetting about my quest to see the rest of the pack make fools of themselves. The first song was one I knew, and I mouthed the words as Seth and I spun around. After the first song, I started to kick my heels off so I wouldn't twist my ankle or put my feet in more pain then necessary, when a pale hand grabbed my foot before the shoe was even half off.

"Oh my God!" I shouted.

"These are really nice shoes, Eliza treat them with respect," Alice scolded calmly.

"I'm so sorry, Alice. Now would you do me the favor and remove my shoes _without_ scaring me like that?" I asked with clear annoyance in my voice.

"Of course." With my shoes off, I was freer to move around. It didn't matter that Seth wasn't the best dancer. The longer we danced, the more comfortable he got. Suddenly he lifted me around the waist and started spinning me around. It was like the perfect freeze-frame photo only we were moving and laughing. The moment felt infinite. Time passed too quickly and it was already time to eat dinner.

Again, I was baffled at how Alice picked out such amazing food without being able to try it herself and know it was so good. My salmon was the freshest and most delicious fish that I had ever tasted. For once, there was silence at my table as the wolves devoured their meals in gulps. Alice came over to see how the food was, and Emily and Rachel had to talk for everyone because our mouths were too full.

This time when the music started back up, I remembered what I had pressed the pack about earlier. "You are going to get on the dance floor and dance and I won't hear any complaints," I declared as if I was as certain as Alice.

"Face the facts, kiddo. It's not going to happen," Colin said.

"You know that you're being babies, right? It's just dancing," Leah spoke up.

"Thank you, Leah! But I still don't think that's going to work. Sam?" I asked hopefully.

"Oh, why not? If it makes you happy." With his alpha voice: "Go dance...well, that felt weird."

"Dance for me puppets," I added, a smile spreading across my face. It was quite entertaining to watch how awkward they looked. Sam, Paul, Jared, and Quil at least had their imprint to lead them. I tried to show them some dance moves, but they weren't into it. Actually, they looked utterly opposed to it. Their escape from the dance floor was over in seconds at the end of the song, but Seth stayed up a little longer with me until I was pulled in to dance with Edward then Jacob then Nessie and just about everyone else until I was too tired to move.

Darkness set in but Alice cleverly had dozens of lanterns hanging in the trees and the lights from the house also lit the yard. Even though I had taken off my heels, my feet hurt from all of the dancing. It couldn't have been later that 10 pm, but I was done. When I finally had the opportunity, I left the dance floor and went back to the table to collapse in Seth's lap. I rested my head against his chest while he rubbed my back.

"Did I tell you that you're an amazing dancer? Yet you still took the time to dance with me, and I am pretty much hopeless," he said to me.

"You're not completely hopeless," I giggled. "You just need some work. And by some, I mean a lot." He laughed along with me. Jake and Nessie walked over from the dance floor and sat down at the table across from us.

"You wanna get going, Liza?" Jake asked.

"It's fine. You guys can stay as long as you want. I'm good right here," I said.

"I'm sure you are," Jake muttered under his breath.

"Here comes the protective father," I joked.

"Alright _children. _Let's just say goodbye to everyone and then we'll get out of here," Nessie cut in. "Besides, Seth is going to have to go in a few minutes because I heard Sam say that they'll be leaving soon." We agreed to that plan and went to say goodbye to Alice first.

"You're leaving so soon?" Alice asked with a bit of disappointment.

"Eliza is pretty exhausted," Nessie explained.

"I might have to carry her back to the cottage," Jake joked.

"I wouldn't mind that," I replied in all seriousness.

"But seriously Alice. Every detail of this wedding was absolutely perfect," Nessie said.

"Thank you. Not just for the compliment but for coming and for all of your help with planning and such. I assume that I will see you tomorrow," was Alice's farewell after she hugged Nessie and me but not Jake since he was not usually comfortable with hugging vampires. Carlisle and Esme were sitting at a table together, chatting with Tanya, and we walked up to them next. Esme stood up to greet us.

"Congratulations, you guys," Nessie started.

"Thank you, dear," Esme replied hugging her and then me.

"Again, you look absolutely gorgeous. Unfortunately, we have to get going now because we are all very tired."

"It meant the world to us that you came," Carlisle said. "And Jacob, I know it wasn't the most comfortable thing for you and the pack to be here, but we are so glad that you came."

"Thank you for having us. You—well, Alice knows how to plan a wedding," Jake replied with a laugh.

"Also, my extended family is going to stay for a few more days and though they shouldn't be in your way for patrols, I felt the need to warn you. I have already informed Sam of this."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thank you for the warning," Jake said. Carlisle and Esme then hugged Nessie and me and shook Jake's hand. While Nessie stayed to say goodbye to Tanya, I took the opportunity to say my own farewell to Seth.

"I had an amazing time with you," he said, wrapping his arms around me.

"It was fun dancing with you," I replied.

"I love you, Liza. Now go get a good night's sleep." He kissed my forehead.

"And I, you."

"Let's go," Jake said when I rejoined him and Nessie, so we made the quick trip through the forest to our temporary home. As soon as I reached the bedroom, I ditched my dress, threw on pajamas, and fell asleep with fond memories of the wedding already playing behind my eyelids.


	24. You Learn Something New Every Day

**Again, thanks for being patient for this chapter to be published! It only takes so long because I alternate between writing this and writing my other story ****Tigers in the Forest****. Also my penname is now Juliebean instead of Liza Cullen-Black. Anyway, this story is coming to an end and there may only be one more chapter after this one, though I haven't quite decided yet. Sorry for the mini cliffhanger at the end of the chapter, but it was necessary. Comments are appreciated!**

**Chapter 24: You Learn Something New Every Day**

So the countdown began. Two days after the wedding, Alice was ready to start furnishing and decorating the new house. In usual Alice fashion, she wanted it to remain a surprise, but this time, Nessie and Jake went along anyway. At least she was going to surprise me, to my annoyance. I was left at Carlisle and Esme's house to be babysat. Since Tanya and the rest of her coven were still in Forks, Carlisle and Esme held off on leaving for their honeymoon.

"Every time they go do something, they leave me here. I don't need a babysitter," I said to Edward and Bella who were sitting next to me on the couch.

"They're just being cautious, especially after all that's happened recently," Edward explained.

"Why do you always have to be right?" I asked.

"You just want to be with Seth right now," Bella said.

"Well, yes, but I also want to keep at least one shred of my independence." Edward rolled his eyes. I hung my legs over the arm of the couch while Bella whispered inaudibly to Edward.

"Excuse me, Eliza. Do you have a minute?" a voice said behind me. Eleazar. I sat up quickly.

"Sure," I replied.

"In case you don't already know, my special ability is to detect the special abilities of others of my kind. So as you may guess, I noticed that you have the ability to move objects with your mind, or telekinesis. Is that correct?"

"Um, yeah, that's right," I confirmed, my mind slightly blown.

"So, I hope you don't mind me asking this, but would you mind demonstrating?"

"Ok." I focused all of my energy on opening the piano bench and removing each music book one by one. At first, I had them fly around in a tornado. But that was too violent; I had them freeze, suspended in midair for a moment, then gently float back to their place in the piano bench. For good measure, I made the couch hover above the ground and spin around like it was on a spinning phonograph. When I set the couch back down and turned around, I noticed that my audience had grown. The Denali coven stared at me in awe.

"That was quite impressive. Thank you for showing me, Eliza," Eleazar said calmly, but I could see that he was marveling at what I had just done.

"No problem," I replied.

"And you did that all with your mind?" Garrett asked without hiding his amazement.

"Yep." I was starting to blush a little.

"I can see how it is related to Nessie's talent, but it is very different," Carmen commented.

"Do you use this often, Eliza?" Tanya asked me.

"No she doesn't," Edward answered before I could get in a word. "There was a little incident when she was younger, before she could control herself, so her parents decided that she shouldn't use it very often."

"No I'm even more curious. What was this incident?" Kate asked. It seemed that Emmett was listening in, because he appeared in the living room with a huge smirk on his face.

"Oh, I'll tell you the story," he said, shooting me a look that made me think that he would probably exaggerate the entire thing. "When Eliza was about three, or about the size of a three-year-old, well you know that she grew quickly. Anyway, she wanted to have a staring contest with me, and who was I to say no to an adorable little girl?"

"Thanks for the compliment," I said sincerely.

"No interrupting my story, Liza! Gosh, teenagers," he said with mock annoyance. I elbowed him for that, but I was laughing. "So we were staring at eachother for about twenty minutes without a clear winner, but then Alice came into the room, and Eliza got distracted and blinked. And, being the sore looser that she was, she started to throw a huge tantrum—"

"Emmett, cut her some slack, she was really young," Bella defended me. Thank you, I mouthed.

"Ok, Bella. What did I just say to Eliza? _No interrupting. _By that point, I decided that it was a good idea to escape so I wouldn't have to deal with a screaming three-year-old, so I retreated to the kitchen. I was just in there, standing over by the fridge—"

"Wait! Let me finish."

"Ok, fine!" Emmett shouted.

"Obviously, I was not happy, so when I saw Emmett in the kitchen, I thought that it would be really awesome if the fridge would just fall on him. All I did was picture it in my mind, and before I knew, there was an extremely loud thump and Emmett was lifting the fridge off of himself." Everyone laughed at that point. "That was the first time I had used my talent, so I was pretty surprised when it happened, but Carlisle was able to figure out what it was. Unfortunately, after that Jake and Nessie decided that it would be safest for me not to use my talent often."

"That's incredible," Tanya said. "Do you think you could convince them to let you start using it more?"

"Probably, since I am more mature and have more self-control. I just hadn't thought to question it before," I replied.

"Is that all you can do? Have you ever tried to move a person before?" Eleazar suggested.

"I never thought to try."

"Could you try?" I nodded and started to focus on moving Bella. It was the hardest I had ever tried to move anything, but she still wasn't moving.

"It's ok, Liza. You can stop trying," Edward said. But I shook my head, and tried to focus more on just moving her hand. It moved maybe half an inch before I gave up, out of breath and with a nasty headache. I let my head drop into Bella's lap.

"That was really good, Eliza!" Eleazar encouraged.

"Are you ok, Eliza?" Carmen asked.

"I think so. Can someone get me some water, please?" Edward nodded and made his way to the kitchen. "I won't be trying that again anytime soon," I said.

"Good idea. It's more painful than it's worth," Bella said just as Edward returned with a bottle of water. I looked at him gratefully and took a few gulps.

"Eliza, Alice just called and asked that Bella and I go help her with the house. You don't mind us leaving you here, do you?" Edward asked.

"Well, I do mind, but I know I have no choice because everyone is so insistent on the house being a surprise." I sat up so Bella could stand up, and they both kissed me on the forehead before walking out the door. I huffed with annoyance. It's not that I didn't like surprises, it was my impatience to see the house that was really getting to me.

"Eliza, I have a question for you," said Kate.

"Go ahead."

"Who were you with at the wedding?"

"Oh, that's Seth. He's part of the pack and a good friend of Jake's." I purposely neglected to mention the whole imprint business, but they saw right through it. Garrett and Eleazar bowed out when the figured out where this conversation was going.

"There's obviously more to it than that. Is your relationship like the one between Nessie and her Jacob?" Carmen asked. Now I was blushing.

"Yes," I admitted.

"I believe it was called imprinting," Tanya told Carmen.

"That is correct."

"Well you two are very cute together," Kate said, closing the subject. I glanced at her gratefully. "Maybe if I get the chance, I'll ask Seth about it."

"You probably will, since he comes over pretty often," I replied. Then the doorbell rang.

"Is that him?" Tanya asked me.

"I have no idea. He wasn't supposed to come over today. Unless he's surprising me." Esme walked down from upstairs to answer the door. Sure enough, when she pulled open the door, the greeting that exited her lips was, "Hello, Seth. What a pleasant surprise."

"Speak of the devil…" I remarked with a huge grin on my face, as he walked into the living room.

"Were you just talking about me?" he asked.

"No…" he shook his head at my obvious bluff. "I'm kidding. But you have nothing to worry about. Kate actually wanted to ask you about imprinting."

"Alright, I'm Seth Clearwater by the way," he introduced himself, shaking each of their hands as they told him their names. Seth was always so comfortable around vampires, well, the good ones anyway. "So what do you want to know?"

"Well first off, can you explain exactly what imprinting is?" Kate asked.

"It's not the most straight-forward thing to explain, but I can try. After we phase for the first time, for some unknown reason, when we meet the person who we are meant to be with for the rest of our lives, we imprint. At that moment, our focus in the world shifts to that girl. What ever you do from then on is geared toward keeping her safe, healthy, and happy," Seth explained.

"Thanks for the explanation."

"No problem," he replied.

"So what was your imprint on Eliza like?" Carmen asked

"My imprint on Eliza was slightly different because it didn't happen the first time I saw her. It happened earlier this summer, which shouldn't be right, but I'm not one to argue if the world hands me my soul mate. I couldn't have asked for anyone better," he said, stroking my cheek with the back of his hand.

"That's sweet," Carmen said.

"I think we'll get out of your way now. It was nice talking to you both," Tanya said and they disappeared up the stairs.

"You're blushing," Seth commented, which of course, made me blush even more.

"When you talk about me like that it makes me feel so loved."

"You _are_ loved. I love you more than anything—oh hey! There it is again. You are too adorable," he said, kissing my newly reddened cheek.

"I love you too, Seth," I replied, leaning into his chest.

"I'm sure you're curious about why I came over now," he said after a moment.

"Who are you, Edward?" I joked.

"No, I just know you well. First of all, I knew that you would be bored out of your mind being left here while your house is getting finished up. Not to mention very impatient. And second, I found this." He pulled a disk from his pocket.

"What is that?" I asked reaching for the disk to get a better look.

"It's some of my home movies. My mom had them transferred to a DVD recently. I thought that maybe you would want to see them." In response, I bolted over to the DVD player and popped in the disk. An image of a tiny Seth and a slightly older Leah on a wooden swing set filled the screen.

"You're so cute!" I exclaimed. The video was nothing exciting, but I was completely engrossed in the little boy who was so much like Seth, yet different. Maybe it was being a wolf, but the younger version of Seth seemed slightly less serious. From there, the video cut to an older Seth and Leah. They still couldn't have been very old, maybe 7 and 11. With them in a tiny fishing boat was a man who I had only seen in a few pictures, but I recognized him as Seth's dad.

"Do you miss him?" I whispered.

"Yeah. Not as much as I used to, but often enough," he replied distantly.

"What was he like?"

"He was very warm and optimistic and also very even-tempered. I like to think that I inherited that from him."

"I think you did," I said. He smiled a little.

"We were very close, so when he died it was extremely hard, especially since I had just phased and Leah was more bitter than ever. And now that I imprinted, I wish that he was still around to meet you because I know that he would love you."

"Really?"

"Of course. He would like any girl that I fell in love, but you are everything that he wanted in a girl for me. It also helps that you're Jake and Nessie's daughter because he was good friends with both Billy and Charlie."

"I wish I could have gotten to meet him," I said. The fact that he felt comfortable talking about his dad with me gave me this amazing feeling, but I decided not to press him any further. On the screen, Seth and Leah were now holding a huge fish.

"Holy cow! Did you catch that?" I exclaimed.

"We had some help from Dad, but yeah," he responded modestly.

"Even so, that's really amazing." We were able to watch a few more videos before the front door opened and Alice came through. Immediately, I stopped the DVD and bolted over to her.

"It's done!" she exclaimed before I could even ask.

"YES!" I shouted, followed by a stream of rapid-fire "thank you"s. Bella, Edward, and Nessie came through the door next. Nessie pulled me in an embrace.

"We can actually move in today if you want," she said.

"I took the liberty of bringing your stuff to the house this morning," Alice added.

"Jake went to get pizza so we can have dinner there too."

"Then let's go!" I said excitedly.

"Not just yet, Liza. I'm going to let Carlisle and Esme know that we're going and _then_ we can go," said Nessie to my annoyance. I sighed, but followed her up the stairs and into Carlisle's office where Carlisle and Esme were talking to Tanya.

"Hello, Nessie. Have you finished the house yet?" Carlisle asked.

"Yes, we have. We're actually going to officially move in tonight, but before we go, I would like to thank you on behalf of all of us for letting us hang around here until we could move into the new house," Nessie replied.

"It was our pleasure. We really enjoyed your company," was Carlisle's response.

"You are always welcome to spend the day or night here if you need to," Esme chimed in. "Enjoy the new house."

"Thank you." We walked back down the stairs and were almost ready to go. Of course, we had to thank Bella and Edward for letting us use their cottage, and Alice for basically dealing with all of the decorating that I was so excited to see. Seth stood awkwardly to the side during this exchange.

"Seth, are you coming with us?" I asked.

"I wish I could, but I have to do my patrol now. I'll come over tomorrow, though," he promised.

"I can drive you to La Push if you need me to," Nessie offered.

"That would be great. Thanks Nessie." We then got into Nessie's car and started driving to La Push. The excitement in the car kept us all quiet. Nessie dropped Seth off at the border, and he kissed me on the cheek before running off to the forest to phase. We only traveled for a few minutes longer and we were there. Nessie pulled into the driveway of the perfect house. I followed Nessie up to the front door and her hand fluttered to the door knob almost in slow motion.

"Ready?" I nodded eagerly, and she pulled open the door.


	25. And In The End

**After 25 chapters and a span of nearly three years, this story is finally coming to a close! Sorry this author's note is so long, but I owe many, many thanks. First, I want to thank anyone who has read, favorited, or commented on this story. Since this was my first fanfiction, it means a great deal to me. Next, I must thank Converse37 for inspiring me to get a fanfiction and write this story in the first place, and also for being a great help when I had writers block. Also, thanks are due to PB Teen for furniture inspiration for this chapter, especially the Lilac Collection, the Vintage Frame Pinboard, and the Rosette lampshade. This Chapter's title comes from the Beatles song "The End" which is worth a listen. Or two. Or ten. It has been fun writing this story, and though I can't guarantee a sequel, I have an idea for another story that I may begin to write soon. So enjoy this last chapter and thanks again for everything.**

**-Juliebean (Eliza)**

**Chapter 25: And In The End...**

It was better than I had imagined. We slipped off our shoes and started to make our way through the perfectly decorated, yet homey living room. A comfy-looking cream sofa and love seat were arranged around a glass coffee table that was trimmed with wood and already holding a vase of flowers and a few magazines. All of this was situated in front of a gorgeous fireplace. The lamps on the side tables gave the room a golden glow that made the whole room brighter.

But that wasn't even the best part. While I was marveling at how perfect everything was, Nessie tapped me on the shoulder from behind and I turned around to question her. That's when I saw the baby grand piano on the opposite side of the room from a big bay window. My resulting scream had Nessie recoiling and I threw my arms around her. When I lifted the bench, I even found some of mine, and Nessie's favorite sheet music.

"How did you do this?" I squealed.

"I didn't. Edward, Bella, and Alice did it behind our backs. Edward and Bella arrived to help just as it was delivered. If they hadn't been there, I probably would have told the deliverymen that it was a mistake and to take it back," Nessie explained.

"That's amazing," I laughed with glee. We proceeded through to the dining room with an elegant yet livable wooden table that seated eight, and a dazzling chandelier, then to the kitchen that already had stools at the island and a few essential food items in the fridge. Jake was sitting in the adjoining breakfast nook at a round white table on a pale blue upholstered booth. He stood when we entered the room.

"I was going to ask you what you thought, but I think my broken eardrums say it all," he said. Nessie and I laughed as he pulled us both into a hug. "Now I feel like we can finally relax and be a real family again."

"I agree," Nessie murmured. After another moment we pulled apart and Jake pulled out a pizza box before I could continue my tour of the house. Only then did I realize how hungry I was, so I was more grateful than annoyed to bite into a cheesy slice of pizza.

"How did you do this so fast?" I asked after I took a sip from the water bottle Nessie had set in front of me.

"Alice mostly. She's been here almost 24/7. I actually felt kinda bad for Jasper because she was spending so much time helping us," Jake answered.

"Let's hope he's not too angry at us," Nessie said a little absentmindedly. "It's incredible how Alice transformed an empty shell of a house into this." She gestured around us. When we were finished, Nessie asked if I was ready to continue the tour and I nodded excitedly. Before taking me upstairs, she led me to the family room off of the dining room. A huge TV took up one of the walls and all of the furniture was facing it.

"This will go over well with the pack," I remarked. I could already picture them crammed onto the couches with bags of chips, watching football games like they usually did at Sam's tiny house. Nessie nodded excitedly; one of the things she missed about not having a house was entertaining.

"Let's go upstairs," she finally said after letting me test out the couches and examine all of the family photos lining the shelves.

"Yes, let's." I tried to sound collected, but Nessie could definitely see through it. She let me run ahead of her and I easily found the door with a pale blue letter "E" hanging on the outside. I glanced at Nessie, and then turned the doorknob.

My room was picturesque; the pale blue walls from the previous owner remained and the white furniture went with it perfectly. Everything had a slightly vintage look and it all matched, from the bed and nightstands, to the desk and even the mirror. A giant quilt that was covered in large multi-colored circles was draped over my bed and underneath were sheets that were teddy bear soft. The hardwood floor felt pleasantly cool on my bare feet.

Then came all of the personal touches. The bookshelves were lined with all of my favorite books, my laptop sat on the desk with a pair of speakers on either side, and a pinboard hung on the wall behind the desk, already covered in pictures. I giggled at the picture from the wedding of me making a face at Alice that was next to a picture from that same day where I looked like a model. All of the Cullens and the pack appeared at least once in the picture. Alice had left just enough room to pin up a note on my personalized stationary that said simply, "You're welcome." I rolled my eyes at her certainty.

"What do you think?" Nessie asked, distracting me from examining the rosette covered lampshade on the lamp on my bedside table.

"I love it," I replied.

"I'm glad. I actually had a great deal of say in this room."

"So you did this?"

"Well, I did the bedding and the books and I picked the pictures that are hanging on the wall over there." I looked over to where she was pointing and gasped. Next to a canvas that looked like an old piece of sheet music, were three photographs in simple frames. The first was one of my favorite baby pictures with my eyes shining and an adorable smile stretched across my face. A family photo was in the next frame. It was from about a year ago, but I looked about nine. Jake, Nessie, and I were all wearing pale blue and smiling up at the camera.

But it was the last picture that was my favorite. It was a candid picture from Carlisle and Esme's vow renewal. You could tell it was nighttime, but there was a glow in the photo. I was sitting in Seth's lap laughing, and he was looking at me with a smile on his face and the classic imprint look in his eyes.

"I love this," I breathed.

"I'm glad," Nessie replied, pulling me into a hug. "Alice will kill me if you don't check out the closet, so you might as well do that now." I pulled open the door to the closet, and was met with perfectly color-coded rows of clothing.

"There's no way it's going to stay this neat, but I could definitely wear this stuff," I said as I examined the different pieces. All of them were brand new, gorgeous, and obviously expensive. Luckily, Nessie pointed out a few drawers of plain t-shirts, sweats, and running shorts that she snuck in for me. Alice had also bought me a bevy of adorable shoes for practically any occasion.

After a minute more of examining my new wardrobe, I walked across the room to peer into my own little bathroom. It didn't matter that it was so small since I was the only one who would use it, and Alice had decorated it with more pale blue accents and a bit of a floral making an appearance in my shower curtain. I turned back into my room completely satisfied by my new room.

"So is there anything else you wanted to see? My room, or the office, or maybe the sun room…" Nessie asked.

"No I'm good." I pulled my laptop off the desk and took it with me to sit on the window-seat.

"Alright. Well if you need anything, I'll be downstairs with Jake," she said as she walked to the door.

"Actually, can you get me a bottle of water?" I asked before she could leave.

"Sure. Just make sure you use a coaster or something so it doesn't wreck you nice new furniture." Nessie left the room, and I was alone in my new room for the first time. I wasn't doing anything of consequence on my computer, so I wasn't annoyed when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in." Jake walked in with a water bottle and coaster in his hand.

"Where do you want this?" he asked.

"The bedside table is fine."

"So, what do you think?" I just smiled up at him and he pulled me into a bear hug. "I promise everything will be okay after this. You will always be able to come back here if you need anything.

"Thanks, daddy," I said into his shoulder. Jake melted a little when he heard that and he kissed the top of my head.

"I'll leave you to enjoy your room while Nessie and I finish up a few things," he said and he walked to the door.

"See you in the morning," I replied, as he stepped out.

"Oh, wait!" He dashed back into the room and tossed a rectangular black object at me. It was the house phone. I looked up at him, confused. "You might want to call Seth," he explained.

"Right! Thanks. Does he know our new number?"

"I told him this morning."

"Awesome."

"Love you, kiddo."

"Love you, too." This time he left for real, closing the door behind him. As I waited for my computer to shut down, I dialed Seth's number.

"Hello?" he said after only two rings.

"Hi," I replied simply.

"Eliza." I could hear his smile through the phone.

"Yes sir."

"So how's the house?"

"Flawless, of course. Especially my bedroom. You should see it. There's this picture that Alice took at the wedding of you and me hanging on my wall and it is absolutely perfect. And we have a family room with a huge TV that will be perfect for parties for the pack."

"That's awesome Liza! I can't wait to see it tomorrow!"

"Tomorrow?"

"Jake told me he invited the whole pack for a housewarming party."

"Oh really? I haven't heard anything about that, but I guess it doesn't really matter you guys would show up a my house tomorrow whether I knew about it or not"

"That is true. I wish we could talk longer, but I need to get some sleep cause I have an early patrol tomorrow."

"Alright," I sighed. "Sleep well and I will see you tomorrow."

"I'm counting on that." I couldn't help but smile when he said that.

"Goodnight, Seth."

"Goodnight." A click on the other line told me that he had hung up, so I set the phone on my desk and walked over to the bookshelf to pick a book to read before going to sleep. Many of the books were brand new, but a few of the ones that were kept at the Cullen house previously had made there way onto the shelf. _The Fault in Our Stars_ by John Green was beckoning me, so I pulled the brand new book off the shelf.

For about 10 minutes I read, taking in the smell of the new book. At about 9:00 I found some pajamas in the closet, pulled my hair back into a messy bun, and shut the lights. A string of lights covered in colorful woven spheres remained on, illuminating the room with a dim, but colorful glow. That was something I could get used to. Sleep overtook me pretty quickly and I had a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

It was precisely 7:48 when I woke up in the morning. No sunlight came through my windows, but I could not hear any rain. After a minute of attempting to get up, I climbed out of bed and walked over to my bathroom and started to get ready. I thought about changing into nicer clothes, but I preferred to marvel in the fact that this was my house and I could wear pajamas as long as I wanted to. When I finally made my way down to the kitchen, I found Jake and Nessie finishing their breakfast already.

"Good morning, Liza. There's a mug of tea on the counter for you," Nessie said.

"Thanks." I grabbed the mug and poured myself a bowl of cereal.

"Did you sleep well?" Jake asked.

"Yes I did, actually," I replied after a bite of cereal.

"Good. We kinda forgot to tell you yesterday that the pack is coming later for a house warming party," Nessie said a little sheepishly.

"That's ok. I already knew about it."

"Oh?"

"Seth told me when I was on the phone with him last night."

"That explains it. I need to do some serious grocery shopping, so I'm going to leave you two here. I trust that you will behave yourselves," Nessie jokingly looked Jake and me as though she thought that we were going to tear the house down in her absence.

"I promise that I'll keep this one in line," Jake replied, lightly elbowing me.

"Please," I scoffed. "If anyone needs to be babysat while you're gone, Ness, it's Jake."

"Whatever, Liza. We'll just see what happens when Nessie get's home and you're the one with the metaphorical blood on your hands." I rolled my eyes.

"But seriously, I think you guys will be fine. I'm going to get out of here. I love you both," Nessie interjected. She kissed me on the cheek and kissed Jake passionately on the lips for a little longer than necessary, and then walked back to the little mudroom to grab her shoes and out the door.

"You done eating?" Jake asked.

"Yep." I pushed my bowl toward him, and to my surprise, he took it to the dishwasher for me.

"Did you know that there's a Wii in the family room?" he asked as he loaded the dishwasher.

"Seriously? You did that, didn't you."

"Of course I did. You wanna go play Wii Sports?"

"Why not?" Jake beat me to the family room and turned on the Wii. Both of us had our advantages; I was best at tennis, while Seth was best at boxing. We were evenly matched at bowling and baseball though, so there were many interesting rounds of us trying to one-up eachother. And of course, we played some pitiful rounds of golf.

"Do you thing we'll ever get the hang of golf?" I asked Jake.

"Ha ha, no," he replied just as he hit an almost perfect shot.

"What was that?! How did you just do that?!" I exclaimed. He looked down at his controller.

"I have absolutely no idea." The back door opened and Jake paused the game before rushing to help Nessie unload bags upon bags of groceries. When the groceries were away, I helped Nessie make a few quick sandwiches so we could start to get ready for the party. We set bowls of chips and crudités and other appetizers on the kitchen counter and the dining room buffet, and Nessie started forming burgers in advance.

"Eliza, you better change out of your pajamas because people will be showing up in 10 minutes," Nessie told me. I followed her advice and dashed up the steps, skipped through my room, and started looking through the clothes in my closet. There was a coral lace dress that I had seen yesterday that had caught my eye, so I pulled that and an oatmeal sweater and changed into that, throwing my pajamas in the hamper.

Before dealing with my messy hair, I plugged speakers into my laptop and put some happy music on. Just as I was figuring out what hairstyle to do, I heard the doorbell, and then Quil and Embry's voices traveling up the stairs. Suddenly there was a knock at my door and I jumped up to get it.

"What is that awful sound coming from those speakers?" Embry asked when I pulled open the door. I rolled my eyes at his ignorance.

"Please. It's called music. The new Passion Pit album to be exact," I shot back.

"Never heard of them. Why don't you put on some normal music?" Quil jumped in.

"Get out of my room," I sighed.

"Whoa! Are you kicking us out?" Embry said with mock disbelief.

"Oh, chill out," I said, following them down the stairs and into the kitchen. Sam and Emily were sitting at the island talking to Nessie and Jared, Colin, and Brady were all examining the food.

"Hey, Liza." Emily turned when she heard us approaching. She patted the stool next to her. "Are you enjoying the new house?"

"Definitely. How much have you seen?" I replied.

"Only the downstairs so far."

"You should see the upstairs. I can give you a tour if you want," I offered.

"Why not. I'll be back in a few minutes, Sam." She followed me up the stairs and I showed her the office, the sunroom (which was still brightly lit despite the clouds outside), then the guest room and bath and master bedroom, and finally my room. In each room, Emily commented on Alice's decorating skills, using terms that I didn't recognize to describe different pieces of furniture.

"I love this room, Liza," she said when we were in my room.

"Thanks! I wish I could take the credit, but again, this was mostly Alice. Though it was inspired by me, so I guess I had some influence," I replied.

"Let's go back downstairs. I'm sure that Nessie needs help making dinner." Just when we reached the bottom of the steps, the doorbell rang and I shouted toward the kitchen that I would get it. Emily didn't wait for me, and headed back to the kitchen.

"Hey, Eliza," Leah said when I opened the door. She gave me a one armed hug since she was holding a flower arrangement in the other.

"Thank you for coming!" I replied enthusiastically. "Jake and Nessie were in the kitchen last time I checked." I pointed her in the right direction, and only then did I turn my attention to Seth, who was waiting impatiently for me to pay attention to him. As soon as he had the opportunity, he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me into a hug.

"No wonder you were so happy on the phone last night. This house is awesome, Liza," Seth said as we walked through the house and into the kitchen. By that point, everyone was there and Nessie was flipping burgers in a very large grill pan. The moment each burger was done, it made its way onto a bun and into the hands of someone in 10 seconds flat.

It was great to settle into our usual routine of the guys devouring most of the food in their reach and bantering and the ladies chatting and preparing more food. Seth and I sat next to eachother in the breakfast nook with Brady, Jared, and Kim, eating burgers and potato chips. When everyone was well fed, we moved to the family room to watch some baseball.

"Didn't you say that you wanted to show me your bedroom?" Seth asked.

"Let's go now." I nudged Nessie and said, "We'll be back in a minute." Seth followed me out of the room and up the stairs and to the end of the hall. He waited for me to open the door.

"I like it, Liza! It's very you," Seth said after glancing around the room. Then he examined the pictures hanging on the wall, spending extra time looking at the one of us. "Do you think I could get a copy of this?"

"Of course. Alice will be pleased that you like it," I replied, sitting on the loveseat where I was on the phone with him the night before. He sat down next to me and pulled me into his lap.

"Now everything's back to normal," he said.

"Not normal. This is better than normal."

"I think I might actually have to agree." We stared into each other's eyes for a moment.

"I really don't know how I could have gotten through this mess without you."

"Hey, it's my duty and my pleasure." He leaned in just so our noses touched.

"I love you," I whispered. His lips met mine in response, softly moving against my lips in a way that caused my heart to flutter. But it ended too quickly when we realized that we had to go back down to the party. We walked back down to the family room to join everyone as they watched the Mariners lose a baseball game. It didn't matter that I didn't care too much for obsessing over sports. My family was in that room and after all we'd been through, their love was all I needed in the end.


	26. A Note to Readers

**Hello! You guys are in luck because I just couldn't stop writing about Eliza, so I began to write a sequel. It is called Future Nostalgia and as of now, there is only one chapter. I can only guarantee one more chapter, though if time permits I will probably write more. In the sequel there are a few very minor details that I have decided to change that I am going to explain here. Please don't get upset since they might not even be mentioned in the sequel. They are just details that were extraneous or didn't make sense to me since I started writing this story in 2009.**

**First, I am changing Eliza's middle name to Sarah after Jacob's mother. Jane didn't seem to make sense, though it sounded good, because of Jane from the Volturi.**

**I also am changing Eliza's talent from telekinesis to a selective form of telepathy. If I get to mention this in the sequel, I will go into greater detail, but basically, she can send her thoughts to others without physical contact. Telepathy links up with Nessie's talent better than telekinesis.**

**Last but not least, the character June and her imprint Jesse are no longer in existence. I'm sure you noticed that by the end of the first story I stopped writing about them, and this was on purpose. At the beginning, it was a thank you to the person who got me started on Fanfiction, Converse37. She stopped writing her story a while ago and her character June just didn't fit into my picture anymore.**

**Like I said, these details are very minor in the scheme of things and I just thought it was fair to give you a heads-up on this. I hope you will still give the sequel a chance because I am extremely proud of it. Thank you so much for sticking with this story. I hope to see your reviews on Future Nostalgia!**

**-Juliebean (Eliza)**

**P.S. I will be taking this Author Note down in about a week, but you can always find Future Nostalgia on my profile.**


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